Speaking of evil dark-patterned business practices, Epic just recently U-turned on lootboxes again. Fortnite did have them originally, but pivoted to the less egregious FOMO sales funnel around when it got really popular, except now they've backtracked by allowing pay-to-win and lootbox mechanics in user-created game modes.
Fortnite's user-created modes are essentially an attempt to compete with Roblox, and like Roblox their age demographics skew very young, so this reads as a deliberate attempt to exploit children specifically.
Maybe it has changed since I played it, but I honestly found Fortnite to be pretty non-predatory compared to most live service games. I know that's a low bar, but at least you can just buy stuff when you see them on there.
If we looked at the top 100 played steam games, I don't think Fortnite would crack the top 15 for most manipulative.
Weirdly I agree. After seeing the truly god-awful pay to win gambling-filled landscape of Roblox, Fortnite feels pretty tame and respectful. V bucks aren't shoved down your throat, the battle passes are pretty transparent about what you get, and the whole cosmetics store feels less lootbox-heavy than a lot of games.
> Now, third-party games can offer premium in-game items and effects, with developers pocketing 37% of the proceeds — temporarily doubled to 74% for 12 months.
37%? Developers get a 37% cut? Holy fucking hypocrisy from Tim Sweeney and the camp at Epic Games with their predation here.
Epic wasn't fined for putting things on sale. Instead, it was fined for putting pressure on children to buy things that were put on sale; e.g. through wording like "Get it now" and "Grab it", and through design.
This makes no sense. You can't buy anything on Fortnite with real money. The purchase you make is for blocks of v-bucks which can then be spent on items.
The actual financial transaction is completely divorced from any items that are on sale and, hopefully, that financial transaction is completely out of the direct control of children.
I play Fortnite -- I get the battle pass, I have a lot of skins and items, and I have never paid a cent. I earn enough v-bucks from playing the game to never have to pay.
That's actually pretty amazing and so I question this fine situation. If you didn't give your kid a cent for Fortnite, they could still play and have great time with their friends and basically get the full experience including skins, items, and emotes.
