Lawsuit Filed After Children Stopped Eating and Sleeping to Play ‘Fortnite’

Fans cheer during the final of the Solo competition at the 2019 Fortnite World Cup inside of Arthur Ashe Stadium, in New York City, on July 28, 2019. Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

A Superior Court judge in Quebec, Canada, has authorized a lawsuit by parents from the region against Epic Games and its Canadian subsidiary, blaming the company for making children addicted to “Fortnite.”

According to the three parents who filed the lawsuit (pdf), their children showed symptoms of severe dependence after playing “Fortnite,” including forgoing showering, eating, and sleeping. They insisted that the game was deliberately made to be highly addictive. In his ruling, Justice Sylvain Lussier decided that the parents’ request for a class-action lawsuit “does not appear frivolous or manifestly ill-founded,” according to Global News. The court concluded that there is a “serious issue to be argued.”

One child played over 7,700 times in two years, with a minimum of three hours a day spent on the game. Another child, who played 6,923 games, got angry after the parents tried to restrict his gaming activities, even going so far as to put a lock on his computer.

Though the judge rejected the claim of “deliberate creation of an addictive game,” he allowed the possibility that the game is “in fact addictive” and that its developers and distributors are “presumed” to have known about it.

The company’s lawyers argued that video game dependence is not recognized as a condition in Quebec, and that it has not been classified as a unique mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association.

The judge pointed out that the World Health Organization had classified video game addiction as a “gaming disorder.” Drawing an equivalence to smoking, he noted that the negative effects of tobacco were not “recognized or admitted overnight.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to Epic Games for comment.

Gaming Addiction Effects

The law firm representing the parents said in the filing that getting addicted to “Fortnite” is similar to “cocaine addiction,” according to PC Gamer. It cited a British behavioral specialist who in 2018 said that “Fortnite” “is like heroin.”

Being addicted to video games like “Fortnite” has a “particularly damaging” effect on the brains of children, the lawsuit said. As kids are continuously attached to their gaming machines, they develop “severe deficiencies” when it comes to the full spectrum of human emotions.

“Specialists report gaps in vocabulary as well as gaps in social integration. Indeed, it is recognized that the continued use of electronic devices causes significant changes to the prefrontal cortex of the human brain, changes that particularly affect young developing brains,” the filing states.

The judge’s authorization makes the lawsuit applicable to any player in Quebec who has become addicted to “Fortnite Battle Royale” since Sept. 1, 2017, and exhibits negative effects on the social, family, educational, or professional aspects of their lives. “Fortnite” boasts over 350 million online players and has reportedly made over $9 billion globally.