“Fortnite like cocaine”. Three parents are suing Epic Games because their children are addicted to the game

The first lawsuit was filed in 2019, barely two years after the release of Fortnite. However, only three years later, in early December, the Supreme Court of Canada authorized legal action in this case.

has until January 3 to appeal, if he does not, the case will go to court – Three parents filed a lawsuit against Epic Games. The court ruled that other parents whose children became addicted to the game could join their class action lawsuit.

“Fornite is addictive like cocaine”

Fortnite is a battle royale production. 100 players compete on one board, the one who kills the last opponent wins.

The plaintiffs claim that their children spend almost all their free time playing Fortnite, sometimes forgetting to eat and wash. They spend thousands of hours in the game, it also happens that they buy virtual items in the game for real money without their parents’ knowledge

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The lawsuit stated that one child was suffering from panic attacks because of the game. The documents also cited a report by addiction specialist Anita Ghadi-Smith, in which she compared playing Fornite to cocaine addiction.

Epic Games’ lawsuits also argued that one of the children was diagnosed with “cyber addiction.” The company defended itself, claiming that the diagnosis was not official and did not come with an expert report that would indicate the cause of the addiction.

Epic also stated that there was no strict definition of gaming addiction and referred to the American Psychiatric Association, which says more research is needed in this matter. However, the judge emphasized that I have been classifying gaming addiction as a disease since 2018. He also explained that the lack of a strict definition does not make the parents’ claim unfounded. He added that the consideration of the case is in the public interest.

“Similarly, the harmfulness of tobacco was not recognized overnight,” the judge wrote in the justification. The parents’ lawyer, however, pointed out that there is something special about Fortnite, because no other production has therapy centers dedicated to a specific game.

Was Fortnite specifically addictive?

Parents believe that the game is deliberately designed to be highly addictive. Their lawyer emphasized that Epic collaborated with psychologist Celia Hodent when designing the game. However, the judge, citing her 2018 interview with Le Monde, stated that he was not convinced that Hodent intended to create an addictive game.

According to the judge, there is no certainty that the parents’ allegations that the game is deliberately highly addictive, are justified, He added, however, that this does not rule out that the game is indeed addictive and its creators and the distributor knew about it.

Epic has issued a statement in which it informs that it provides a parental control tool that allows you to supervise what children do online. The company explains that parents can receive reports on how much time their children spend in the game, and there is an option to enable authorization for each in-game purchase. Epic plans to defend itself in court. The subject of the case is also to return money for virtual items purchased without the parents’ knowledge.