Does anyone here know exactly what these patterns are?
There are more examples here about the patterns https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2022/12/245-milli...
They already changed the system like half a year ago, guess they knew about the penalty back then https://www.fortnite.com/news/updates-to-fortnite-purchase-c...
Now for every purchase you have to hold the buy button for several seconds. You can't click/touch accidentally. Plus there is a proper refund system now.
But at least they don’t auto play movies that you have to pay for. Which it sounds like is what’s happening here.
So this line from the linked ftc post is incorrect:
"Epic charges for in-game purchases designed to enhance game play"
Money does not enhance game play.
Epic also hands out in-game currency every so often, so you can even collect skins for free after some time.
That said, kids gotta have the new skins.
Common misconception. In reality, allowing for IAPs has changed the design of the game greatly. For example, those cosmetics you don't consider important have been made non attainable from normal gameplay.
Every little pixel sold as an IAP also means the design of the game is changed to give you an incentive to buy the IAP, instead of entertaining you.
Fortnite even allows you to enter competitive tournaments and compete for money without spending a dime. A player that spent $0 and is using the default skin is at no disadvantage vs a player that spent $1000.
One purchase of the Battle Pass (<$10) gets you many skins, emotes, and v-bucks, enough to get each season pass for free afterward, as long as you actually play it and are enjoying it.
And secondly, each season they change the map, add new mechanics, new skins, and the season pass quests change, sometimes even new modes of play. That keeps players coming back, which means you don't have to wait in the lobby for hours to try to get a match because everyone got bored.
I'm going into my 6th year playing on 1 season pass. Somewhere over 1000 hours of play. That's a whole lot of value for less than $10.00; less than 1¢/hour.
I have spent a couple times to try the original Save The World game (which was not the free-to-play model) and to buy two specific skins. But it was clear each time, and I did not see any tricky one-click-buy dark patterns.
However, I understand the UI is different on consoles, which have such limited buttons. It seems that's where the main complaint is. And that's a totally reasonable complaint if the button that usually does 'X' or 'Y' is at other times a 'One-click buy' button.
Really any game that uses just a console controller for anything more complicated or with more potential consequences than losing a game of Tetris really needs some safeguards due to their clunky UIs.