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.

https://www.ign.com/articles/as-fortnite-enables-third-party...

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.

Why can't Valve and others get fined for worse designs? Because Teens play Counter-strike and not children?

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.

Children do not have money of their own and can’t spend their parents’ money.

> 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.

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.