Have you heard about Epic Games Settlement? You may have heard about this once or several times, but you do not really know what it is. Well, it is actually good news for you as a Fortnite player. What good news is it?
Fortnite Gives 1,000 V-Bucks For Players to Settle Loot Box Class Action Lawsuit
The good news is that Fortnite players will be given 1,000 V-Bucks by Epic Games if they have bought an in-game loot box where it is presented in the game as ‘loot llamas’ which contains randomized items. It is a part of a proposed class action lawsuit settlement to be approved.
In the Fortnite Battle Royale mode, it has never contained randomized loot boxes. However, in the cooperative survival mode Save The World, it did at least until 2019 when Epic changed the loot box system to permit players to see the item in the box before they buy it.
And now, players who bought a randomized loot before their discontinuation will be given 1,000 V-Bucks which is about $8. It will be deposited automatically into their accounts. This decision is a part of Epic’s move to be able to settle blind draw loot box lawsuits which it has faced over the last few years.
In the Twitter post of Fortnite account @FortniteGame, Epic announced that they dropped 1000 V-Bucks into the accounts of all players globally who bought a random item Loot Llama in STW before they stopped offering them. In addition, they also tweeted that there is no action needed to do by the players. If they bought this item, they would see the V-Bucks in their account over the next few days. This Tweet was posted on February 23rd, 2021.
On Monday, a confirmation was got by the developer from a judge of preliminary approval for its class action settlement in the Superior Court of North Carolina. So, that’s why Epic states that it will start giving the rewards. To be honest, this move is unusual. It is because class action lawsuit settlements usually need claimants to file claims to get benefits. However, Epic states to give the benefits early. Why? It is because it feels its current position on loot boxes is the right one. And also, in the past, the players are owed something for having bought randomized ones.
Jeffrey Jacobson, a partner at the law firm Faegre Drinker who represents Epic states that first, it is the right thing to do and they feel strongly about random item loot boxes. In addition, he also states that they feel good about the settlement. Also, he says that they hope the players can agree with them. It seems that a final approval will be scheduled for May and the lawyers who represent Epic and the plaintiffs hope that the settlement can be approved.
Actually, the settlement gives an effect only to the US players. However, they decided to give the 1,000 V-Bucks to all Fortnite players around the world as long as they bought at least one of the randomized loot llamas. For your information, Rocket League players who bought in-game items like event crates or keys to open loot boxes in the game are also included in the proposed settlement.
Epic gives a statement that with regard to the scope of the US settlement, the V-Bucks benefit will be given to 6.5 million players who purchased a random item loot llama in Fortnite and also 2.9 Rocket League players who bought an event crate or a key which was used to open a crate.
Here is what CEO Epic Tim Sweeney says in a statement to The Verge. “We stopped offering random item loot boxes like Fortnite Loot Llamas and Rocket League Crates because we realized that some players were repeatedly disappointed by not receiving the random items they hoped for. Players should know upfront what they are paying for when they make in-game purchases.”
The settlement which is proposed also provides up to $26.4 million. It is in additional cash and other benefits for Fortnite and also Rocket League players.
In 2019, Epic stopped selling randomized loot boxes which replaced what were once V-Buck Llamas with X-Ray Llamas in Fortnite Save the World. At that time, these blind draw llamas performed users 50 V-Bucks and had various weapons, skins, or other loot. Recently, Rocket League also removed loot boxes. It was about months after Epic acquired its creator Psyonix.
About Fortnite
Fortnite is an online video game which is now played by a lot of people around the world. Epic Games is the developer of this game and in 2017, this game was released for the first time. This game has three different game modes. Those are Fortnite: Save the World, Fortnite: Battle Royale and Fortnite Creative.
Fortnite: Save the World is a cooperative survival game which is able to be played by up to four players to fight off creatures which are like zombies. Also, in this mode, players have to defend objects with traps and fortifications that they can build. Fortnite: Battle Royale is a battle royale game which is free to play where there are up to 100 players fight to be able to be the last person standing. How about Fortnite Creative? In this game mode, the players will be given complete freedom to be able to create worlds and battle arenas.
In 2017, Save the World and Battle Royale were released as early access. Then, on December 6th, 2018, Creative was released. You are able to play Fortnite Save the World on Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. How about Battle Royale and Creative? These game modes are released for all those platforms and also iOS, Android and Nintendo Switch.
Fortnite Save the World and Creative have been successful. However, Fortnite Battle Royale became more successful where it can draw more than 125 million players in less than a year. With this number of players, Epic games earned hundreds of millions of dollars each month.
AUTHOR BIO
On my daily job, I am a software engineer, programmer & computer technician. My passion is assembling PC hardware, studying Operating System and all things related to computers technology. I also love to make short films for YouTube as a producer. More at about me…
Leave a Reply