The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a new wave of refunds of $126 million to Fortnite players who received unauthorized charges in-game.
These refunds were funded by a $245 million settlement with Epic Games, which occurred in 2023 after the FTC found that Epic had employed deceptive design techniques to create unintended purchases.
The newest refund wave kicked off on June 25-26, in which nearly 969,000 players received money either in paper checks or through PayPal.
This continues on from the previous payment wave from December 2024, in which roughly 629,000 claims were paid out for a total of $72 million.
According to the FTC, Fortnite used design techniques referred to as "dark patterns," in which it becomes easy for players, especially children, to spend money without explicitly knowing what they're buying, which resulted in millions of dollars worth of unintended purchases.
Epic also locked some users out of their accounts when they disputed charges, which was part of the FTC case.
The refunds are part of the ongoing effort to return money to affected users and keep fairness in online games.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is sending out over 969,000 payments worth more than $126 million to Fortnite gamers charged for unwanted items. pic.twitter.com/lwJGnUVODx
— Alex (@PlanoGaming) June 25, 2025
New Deadline to Claim Refunds Announced
For players who missed out on the initial round of refunds, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has given a new deadline of July 9, 2025 to bring your claim. The FTC is reopening the claims process, which allows for even more users to get money back. To qualify for a refund, users have to meet at least one of the following requirements:
Made unauthorized in-game purchases between January 2017 and September 2022
Were charged by a child between January 2017 and November 2018
Lost access to their Fortnite account after disputing a charge
Claims can be filed online at ftc.gov/fortnite, and users should have their claim number or an Epic Games account ID on hand. Users will be refunded with their selected payment method, either PayPal or check.
PayPal users must accept payments within 30 days, and users getting checks must cash them within 90 days. The FTC also reminded users they do not charge a fee to issue a refund.
This extension allows Fortnite players another opportunity to reclaim funds lost because of misleading or unauthorized in-game purchases.
