Gamers play Fornite Battle Royale at the annual E3 Gaming Expo
(Picture: Frederic J Brown / Getty )Fortnite is implementing a new restricted account that stops younger players from chatting or making purchases with real money without parental consent.
Epic Games, the company responsible for the hit video game, says the new “cabined accounts” create a safer gaming experience for children. The limited accounts are rolling out to Epic’s biggest games, including Fortnite, Rocket League, and Fall Guys.
As part of the new rules, all players will be asked to verify their age when they log in to the games. Those aged 13 or under (or the age of consent in their country) will automatically be assigned a restricted account, and asked to provide a parent or guardian’s email address.
Epic will lift the restrictions with a parent or guardian’s permission, or when the player turns 13 or their region’s age of consent. Until then, players will still be able to play Fortnite, Rocket League, and Fall Guys. They will also be able to make in-game purchases using any existing funds in their Epic wallet.
The safeguards come amid a looming regulatory crackdown on tech and social media services. The UK’s long-gestating internet regulation, the online safety bill, returned to Parliament this week and could be hammered out before the end of the year. At its heart, the controversial bill introduces rules to force social media and user-generated content sites to remove illegal material from their platforms, with an emphasis on protecting children from viewing harmful content.
Seeing as many online video games offer social interactions and content created by users, they will fall under the scope of the bill, according to the gaming industry’s trade body, Ukie. It recommends that video game companies implement age verification as a way to mitigate the brewing regulation.
That could explain why Epic has upped its efforts to protect younger users. It previously enabled stricter privacy settings by default for Fortnite users under 18. Along with curbs on voice and text chat and purchases with real money, the new cabined accounts also limit players from accessing a host of additional features and services. These range from downloads of non-Epic games to recommended content to email marketing and push notifications.
Epic will also ask parents and guardians to set parental controls, which include limits on player interactions, games (based on their age ratings), and mature language in text chats.
