Epic Games, the developer behind the battle royale game Fortnite, has been slapped with a hefty fine of €1.1 million for violating EU consumer laws and pressuring youngsters into making in-game purchases. This decision was made by the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) following an investigation into the company's practices. The ACM found that Epic Games had failed to provide clear information about the nature of its in-game purchases, particularly to children. This lack of transparency led to many young players making unintended purchases, which was a clear violation of EU consumer protection laws. The authority also noted that Epic Games' practices were designed to encourage children to make frequent purchases, which further deepens the issue. Netherlands' ACM claims that these were "dark patterns" which are prohibited in the EU. More specifically, these were "Get it now" or "Buy now" phrases that pushed youngsters into making choices. One fine is for illegal aggressive commercial practice that created fear of missing out (FOMO), which is calculated at €562,500. Another €562,500 is fined on countdown timers, which were used in the Item Shop for items that were still available even after the timer had reached zero. This totals €1.125 million.

In response to the fine, Epic Games has announced its intention to appeal the decision. This fine serves as a significant reminder to game developers of the importance of transparency and consumer protection in the gaming industry. As the popularity of online gaming continues to grow, companies must prioritize the well-being and financial security of their young players. The ACM's decision sends a strong message that such practices will not be tolerated and that companies must take responsibility for their actions. The fine is significant, and it will be interesting to see how Epic Games responds to the decision. In a statement for GameIndustry.biz, Epic Games has noted that "The findings in the ACM's decision contain significant factual errors about how Fortnite and the Item Shop operate. The ACM is mandating changes that would result in a poor experience for players. We will appeal this decision. While our appeal is pending, players in the Netherlands that are under the age of 18 will not be able to see or purchase items that are in the shop for less than 48 hours, beginning May 24, 2024."

NVIDIA has released its latest GeForce 546.33 WHQL Game Ready Drivers, bringing Game Ready support and optimizations for The Finals, and Squad, games as well as specific DLSS optimizations for Fortnite Chapter 5. The new drivers also add GeForce Experience support for six new games. In addition addition to these game-specific optimizations, the latest drivers also fix the issue seen with Discord where colors may appear muted when streaming gameplay, and the general bug where a new NVIDIA icon is created in the system tray each time a user switch happens in Windows.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 546.29 WHQL

Intel just released the latest version of Arc GPU Graphics Drivers. Version 101.4824 WHQL adds Game On optimization for "The Crew Motorfest" and "Mortal Kombat 1." Among the issues fixed with this release include flickering or display corruption noticed in Fortnite (DirectX 12), and erratic fan behavior on some Arc Graphics products. For Intel Core processor iGPUs, the drivers address a "Tactics Ogre Reborn" display flickering issue during the dialog sequences.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.4824 WHQL

Fortnite maker, Epic Games, has on Monday reached a settlement in court in an investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to pay a total of 520 million US Dollars in fines. This fine is because Epic deployed shady tactics of manipulating children into purchasing Fortnite V-bucks, skins, etc., without proper consent forms and purchase order confirmations. Even with millions of complaints from parents, Epic decided to proceed with its tactics and used dark patterns that deceived the original intent. Thus, the FTC has made a case that this violates the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) rule, and Epic Games will have to pay the fine.

The fine is consists of two separate causes. The $275 million monetary penalty for violating the COPPA Rule—the largest penalty ever obtained for violating an FTC rule, and the $245 million to refund consumers for its dark patterns and billing practices. The refund fine is FTC's most considerable refund amount in a gaming case and its most significant administrative order in history. Epic said, "Over the past few years, we've been making changes to ensure our ecosystem meets the expectations of our players and regulators, which we hope will be a helpful guide for others in our industry. " The official statement is far longer, and you can read about it here.

Western Digital Corp., an industry-leading provider of storage technologies and solutions, today announced a new partnership with Epic Games and Nintendo to deliver the first officially licensed Fortnite SanDisk microSDXC card for Nintendo Switch. The exclusive Fortnite branded memory card for Nintendo Switch is designed to provide players with consistent and reliable storage as they drop into Fortnite, no matter how they play. The card has also been tested and approved for use with all Nintendo Switch Systems and is backed by a limited lifetime warranty to give gamers the peace of mind needed to land in command.

Inspired by the epic Skull Trooper (128 GB) and legendary Cuddle Team Leader (256 GB) Outfits, the exterior design of the cards pay homage to some of the most rare and popular Outfits in the game. As a bonus, fans who purchase the card will receive a code to redeem the rare Angular Flow Wrap, sure to mesmerize any squadmate.

AMD released the year's first Radeon Software Adrenalin software update. Version 22.1.1 comes with optimization for "Monster Hunter Rise," and "God of War," with up to 7% performance increase measured at 4K Ultra settings with the RX 6900 XT, compared to the previous 21.12.1 drivers. A handful issues were also fixed. To begin with, high idle memory clocks noticed on machines with multiple high-resolution monitors, has been fixed. Power Tuning components of a saved tuning profile not correctly loading following a Radeon Software update, has been fixed. Visual corruption noticed with "Halo Infinite" when zoomed-in, on machines with products such as the RX 5600 XT, has been fixed. Flickering noticed in "Fortnite" with RX 6000 series graphics cards in DirectX 12 mode with Radeon Boost enabled, as been fixed. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 22.1.1

Today Epic Games announced that it completed a $1 billion round of funding, which will allow the company to support future growth opportunities. Epic's equity valuation is now $28.7 billion.

This round includes an additional $200M strategic investment from Sony Group Corporation, which builds on the already close relationship between the two companies and reinforces their shared mission to advance the state of the art in technology, entertainment, and socially-connected online services. Other investment partners include Appaloosa, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, GIC, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Park West, KKR, AllianceBernstein, Altimeter, Franklin Templeton and Luxor Capital. Epic continues to have only a single class of common stock outstanding and CEO Tim Sweeney remains the controlling shareholder of the company.

Epic Games have recently announced the aquisition of Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout developer Mediatonic for a undisclosed amount. Mediatonic have had a meteoric rise to fame with the release of their hit game Fall Guys in August 2020 with their team rising from 35 members to over 150. Mediatonic and Epic have confirmed that they will continue to support all platforms including Steam and reaffirmed plans to bring the game to Nintendo Switch and Xbox. The Mediatonic team also commented on bringing features from Fortnite and Rocket League to the game including account systems, cross-play, and squad vs squad modes.

Apple and Epic Games have had quite a turbulent history of legal issues in the past year. Fortnite, the world's biggest battle royale game, got removed from the Apple store because its developer, Epic Games, had refused to comply to store rules. If a developer is listing a game on the Apple store, all in-game payments must be processed through Apple, with the company taking a 30% tax cut for it. Epic Games didn't like that idea too much, so the company just used an external system that gave players the option to pay for in-game goods using different ways. However, that represented non-compliance to Apple store guidelines, and Apple took the Fortnite game down.


Update February 26th 07:50 UTC: In thecourt hearing on Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixson ordered that Apple's subpoena was considered valid. Valve's lawyers urged the judge to not force the company to produce the requested data, however, Apple's lawyers have said that the request is doable and the company is only requesting data on a few hundred games, and it could have been worse by requesting data on over 30000 games instead.

A class action settlement with Epic Games, Inc. ("Epic") has received preliminary approval from the Superior Court of North Carolina, Tenth Judicial District. Under the settlement, all U.S. players of Fortnite: Save the World and Rocket League who bought a random item loot box in either game before Epic Games discontinued them will receive certain benefits immediately and automatically. The settlement also provides up to $26.5 million in cash and other benefits to U.S.-based Fortnite and Rocket League players to resolve claims arising from players' purchases of Fortnite and Rocket League in-game items.

Beginning today, Epic will deposit 1,000 V-Bucks, the Fortnite virtual currency, or 1,000 Rocket League Credits, into the accounts of U.S. players who bought a random item loot box. These deposits will be automatic and players do not need to do anything to claim them, though it may take a few days for all eligible players to receive them.

Additionally, players who believe they were harmed or damaged by virtue of their in-game Fortnite or Rocket League purchases and meet certain criteria can file a claim for a cash payment of up to $50 or a virtual currency deposit of up to 13,500 V-Bucks (in Fortnite) or 13,000 Credits (in Rocket League). Legal guardians of players who are minors that made in-game purchases without parental permission can seek partial refunds of up to $50, but must agree to the closure of their child's Epic Games accounts.

Epic Games today announced it has filed an antitrust complaint against Apple in the European Union (EU), expanding the company's fight to advance fairer digital platform practices for developers and consumers. The complaint, filed with the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition, alleges that through a series of carefully designed anti-competitive restrictions, Apple has not just harmed but completely eliminated competition in app distribution and payment processes. Apple uses its control of the iOS ecosystem to benefit itself while blocking competitors and its conduct is an abuse of a dominant position and in breach of EU competition law.

The complaint complements legal processes already underway in both the US and Australia, as well as Epic's recent filing before the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal. "What's at stake here is the very future of mobile platforms." Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said today. "Consumers have the right to install apps from sources of their choosing and developers have the right to compete in a fair marketplace. We will not stand idly by and allow Apple to use its platform dominance to control what should be a level digital playing field. It's bad for consumers, who are paying inflated prices due to the complete lack of competition among stores and in-app payment processing. And it's bad for developers, whose very livelihoods often hinge on Apple's complete discretion as to who to allow on the iOS platform, and on which terms."

Beginning December 15th, we're launching a new performance mode on all PCs that meet Fortnite's minimum specifications. Available in Alpha, Performance Mode will be selectable through the in-game settings menu and offers significant performance gains by trading out visual quality to lower memory usage and lighten the load on CPU and GPU. For players already on low scalability settings or less powerful hardware, this mode will allow the game to run better than ever before and maintain a smoother framerate.

Performance Mode is opt-in for most users and will launch with support for Battle Royale and Creative mode only. Users running on older hardware will see a prompt pushing them to the mode to try it out as the recommended way to experience the game. Performance Mode can be enabled or disabled at any time through the in-game settings menu and restarting the game.

NVIDIA today released the latest version of its GeForce software. Version 456.71 WHQL comes game-ready for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War PC Beta, which includes not just optimization for the game, but also support for NVIDIA Reflex, a technology that works to reduce whole system latency. In addition, the drivers correct a handful of issues, including hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling resulting in lower performance for Divinity: Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition, a bug with G-SYNC enabled games triggering a black-screen in fullscreen mode, on certain Adaptive Sync displays; and Fortnite crashing on certain notebooks with RTX reflections and shadows enabled. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 456.71 WHQL

Fortnite, one of the world's most popular games, is about to get faster, more beautiful, and even more responsive on PC with the addition of groundbreaking NVIDIA technologies. Ray-traced visual effects, NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex, and a custom RTX map will be added during Fortnite Chapter 2 - Season 4, thanks to a new Epic Games and NVIDIA partnership.

Immersive ray-traced effects, powered by GeForce RTX's RT Cores, dramatically improve the fidelity and detail of Fortnite's stylized world. With NVIDIA DLSS, performance is greatly accelerated thanks to Tensor Cores, found exclusively on GeForce RTX 20 and 30 Series GPUs. And NVIDIA Reflex reduces the time it takes for your actions, like your character's movements, to be displayed on your monitor, increasing responsiveness.

Update Sep 17th: NVIDIA has announced that these changes will be coming to the game on September 17 when a new GeForce Game Ready Driver is released.

AMD today posted the Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.8.3 WHQL drivers. This was earlier released as a beta in late-August. Besides the WHQL certification, nothing appears to have changed since 20.8.3 beta. The drivers come with optimization for "Marvel's Avengers" (the game), "Project CARS 3," and "Fortnite" (specific to DirectX 12 model in "Epic" setting). Other changes over the previous 20.8.2 drivers include new Vulkan API extensions, a number of game-specific fixes, improved compatibility of YouTube playback on certain browsers when paired with AMD Ryzen processors, and more. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.8.3 WHQL

NVIDIA just announced its new generation GeForce "Ampere" graphics card series. The company is taking a top-to-down approach with this generation, much like "Turing," by launching its two top-end products, the GeForce RTX 3090 24 GB, and the GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB graphics cards. Both cards are based on the 8 nm "GA102" silicon. Join us as we live blog the pre-recorded stream by NVIDIA, hosted by CEO Jen-Hsun Huang.

Epic Games and Apple are engaged in an ugly legal battle over Epic's decision to add an in-app payment system for "Fortnite," in violation of Apple's terms. All in-game micro-transactions are expected to be routed through the App Store. Apple essentially de-platformed Epic Games, and "Fortnite," which would have far-reaching implications including restrictions on third-party games using the Unreal Engine. On Monday, Epic Games got a partial and temporary relief against Apple's action, in the form of a temporary restraining order which prevents Apple from terminating the developer accounts of Epic Games, and restricting the use of Unreal Engine by game developers on Apple platforms.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers hearing the matter, however ruled that Apple isn't required to restore "Fortnite," which it banned after Epic Games added its in-game payments system that stepped on Apple's toes. Epic Games in its prayer to the Court argued that Apple's actions brought "irreparable harm" to the company. The Court disagreed. "The Court finds that with respect to Epic Games' motion as to its games, including Fortnite, Epic Games has not yet demonstrated irreparable harm. The current predicament appears of its own making." She argued that Epic Games "strategically chose to breach its agreements with Apple."

In the ongoing turf war between Epic Games and Apple, the game and engine development company has now signed a powerful ally to its side: Microsoft. In an announcement via Twitter, XBOX vice president Phil Spencer announced that Microsoft had filed a statement in support of Epic's lawsuit against Apple - specifically, regarding the maintenance of Unreal Engine resources, tools, and developer credentials in the Apple store. This comes weeks after the battle royale between Apple and Epic begun, and after Epic started a social media and industry-wide call for support among consumers and corporations alike.

While the merits on Epic's initial move and subsequent lawsuit against Apple may be up for debate, and it's likely that any court of law will say that Epic clearly intended to breach contract terms they had already accepted when distributing Fortnite through the Apple Store, this second one has a much higher amount of O2 to breathe. Apple terminating the Unreal Engine affiliation with its store and development capabilities can potentially send a ripple effect throughout the entire games industry, whether in already-shipped games, currently in development ones, or future development intentions. That Microsoft themselves backed Epic on this particular issue goes to show just how wide a net this conflict is escalating towards.

The epic (ahem) battle between Epic Games and Apple is becoming increasingly nastier, as Apple has communicated to the game and game engine developers that it plans on terminating all of Epic developer accounts on its ecosystem (both on iOS or MacOS) by August 28th. If done, this would impede not only Epic from developing for these systems, but also would impact any and all companies that actually employ the Unreal Engine in their development process, be it final or merely as a toolbox. It's case to say that Apple has its finger firmly set on the big, red button.

This move from Apple comes in wake of the calculated feud initiated by Epic Games last week with both Google and Apple. What some may have failed to see is that the Epic Games move was a coordinated, well-thought-out one, in that the company knew - or thought they knew - the full ramifications of what they were setting in motion. Epic Games, with its newfound budget and clout, is looking to become a banner for developers, spearheading a charge that is looking to brunt the walled garden approach. In fact, the company is even looking to form a "coalition of Apple critics", and is looking for companies to join its bandwagon in fighting against the Apple walled-garden and middle-man approach to software distribution.

Today, Epic Games has decided to file a lawsuit against both Apple and Google after both companies removed Fortnite form their platform app stores (Google Play and Apple App Store). Firstly, Apple has decided to remove the Fortnite app to form its App Store because the game violated the company's policy that all in-game payments must go through the Apple App Store system, instead of them being processed directly. That means that Apple can also apply its 30% cut on all the payments made in-game. After Apple has revoked the Fortnite app, Epic Games has decided to file a lawsuit that aims to fight the company's monopoly and make the iOS platform more developer-friendly. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said that Epic will not seek or accept any special deal that Apple may offer, but rather wants to fight for all developers.

Just hours after Apple decided to pull the Fortnite game from its App Store, Google has also removed the game from its Google Play Store. Google's Play Store policy about in-app payments says that all games must use Google Play in-app billing if they want to process payments, so Fortnite was pulled from it as well. In light of that move, Epic Games has also filed a lawsuit against Google on the same terms. The company wants to fight both Apple and Google in court and make them be more developer-friendly, especially Apple. We have to wait and see how the case progresses. Being that Apple is almost a $2 trillion company, it can surely afford lots of good lawyers, just as Google will. We want to express our support for Epic Games for going in the right direction, as we do need more open ecosystems.

Today, on the official Twitter account of Fortnite game, Epic Games made an announcement that the game will receive an update on the 5th of August (tomorrow), that will bring some new features. Titled Joy Ride update, Epic Games promises that it will bring car support with it. In a tweet, the company says that "It's not just a name. It's a warning.", where it is referring to the Joy Ride update and the fact that it is going to change the gameplay dynamics of the game. So far, the only way to travel in-game on the ground was by foot, meaning that a car update will improve the speed of moving a lot. Let us know your thought on this update in the comments down below.

Today owning digital copies of games is a real struggle. There are are many platforms that offer games to be purchased, and some games are platform-specific. Take a look at Fortnite for example. It is only available on the Epic Games platform and launcher, so you have to download and sign-up to that if you wish to play the game. The PC platform is currently struggling with that problem as there is no unified store where you can purchase all of your digital copies of games. That is the main reason why Good Old Games, called GOG shortly, has decided to invite Epic Games and make a universal launcher for all storefronts.

The GOG Galaxy 2.0 is a new storefront that aims to give gamers the ability to "Install and launch any PC game you own, no matter the platform." With Epic Games joining the platform, it is a matter of time before others join. Some are still resistant, however. Steam and Origin are still not okay with that idea and they are keeping it to themselves. It is interesting to see the development of this, and in the meantime, you can check out GOG Galaxy 2.0 here.

Samsung Electronics, the global gaming monitor market leader today announced its official partnership with global esports organization, T1 Entertainment & Sports (T1). With this partnership, all teams and players located at the T1 headquarters training facility in Seoul will practice using Samsung's latest curved gaming monitors, the Odyssey G9 and G7. The Odyssey portfolio delivers a powerful combination of high-performance 1000R curvature, QLED picture quality, rapid 1 ms response time and 240Hz refresh rate for the most immersive gaming experience.

"We are proud to partner with T1, the leader in professional esports, helping them in their continued success and global growth as official display partner," said Hyesung Ha, Senior Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. "Our line-up of Odyssey monitors provides the latest in gaming monitor technology with lightning-fast speed, comfortable curvature and a sleek design, offering professional esports gamers the competitive edge they need to make every split second count."

Epic Games today announces the launch of Epic Online Services, unlocking the ability to effortlessly scale games and unify player communities for all developers. First announced in December 2018, Epic Online Services are battle-tested and powered by the services built for Fortnite across seven major platforms (PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, iOS, and Android). Open to all developers, Epic Online Services is completely free and offers creators a single SDK to quickly and easily launch, operate, and scale their games across engines, stores, and platforms of their choice.

"At Epic, we believe in open, integrated platforms and in the future of gaming being a highly social and connected experience," said Chris Dyl, General Manager, Online Services, Epic Games. "Through Epic Online Services, we strive to help build a user-friendly ecosystem for both developers and players, where creators can benefit regardless of how they choose to build and publish their games, and where players can play games with their friends and enjoy the same quality experience regardless of the hardware they own."

Epic Games launched Fortnite for Android in 2018 players had to sidestep the Google Play Store and download the game directly from Epic as an APK. The reason Epic Games chose to go this route was the 30% fee Google Play takes on all in-app purchases, this move was understandable at the time. Over the last 18 months Google has vastly increased Android security measures with features such as Google Play Protect and "security pop-ups" in an attempt to increase control over Android. Epic Games wanted Google to revise their policies and take a smaller cut however Google has won out and Epic has announced that Fortnite will be available via the Google Play Store going forward in addition to the direct download from the Epic Games site.