This isn’t the first time that American video game and software mammoth Epic Games has sued one of its gaming experienced testers. Epic Games, a frontrunner in the Battle Royale types of games has always taken privacy very seriously, especially for its marquee product and by far most popular flagship game Fortnite. The latest allegations are concerning Fortnite Chapter 2, expected to release in February of the next year. Epic Games filed one lawsuit on October 25th against one Ronald Sykes, a gaming tester for leaking the new map design and breaking a Non-Disclousure Agreement (NDA). Another was filed against a one Lucas Johnston a tester based out of Montreal’s Keyword Studios alleging that he “was responsible for the release of highly confidential information to the public”
Lawsuit Details and Damages.
Essentially the lawsuit against Sykes claims that he broke an NDA, by revealing new experiences and information that he gained by being a gaming experience tester. In a statement, Epic Games lawyers said that “(Sykes) did so at the expense of Epic, and members of the Fortnite community who were anxiously awaiting Fortnites new season, only to have some planned surprises ruined by Sykes leaks”. According to the facts of the case, Sykes played Fortnites newer content in late September of this year, and three days later started to post a series of tweets that contained spoilers to the new season. In his tweets, Sykes claimed that in Fortnite chapter two, users would be able to swim and shared a photo of the new map as well.
In the case against Johnston, he was fired from Keyword studios the day after the leak on September 12th. He now is being sued by Epic Games and faces damages upward of $85000. According to a report by Global News, Johnston took a screenshot during a session of testing new content on August 30th. This exact same screenshot found itself on a Fortnite competition forum on September 12th.
Court documents pertaining to this case claim that Johnston did, in fact, admit to taking the screenshot and emailing it to himself but is unaware of how it landed up online. His former employer, Keyword Studios during an internal investigation has found that the user who posted it online had three friends in common with an account linked to Johnston’s email, which probably does mean that Johnston shared the image. In this case, Epic Games claims that “the leak deprived them of the element of surprise for chapter two, as well as alerting competitors to their plans”
Fortnite Chapter 2 Release Date Pushed back.
Two days ago, Epic Games in a statement announced that Chapter 2 release date would be pushed to early February of next year, despite an initial planned release of October of this year. It was not clear if this has to do anything with the leaks, but its certainly not out of the question. Gamers will need to wait a little longer to get their hands on the newly modeled battle map.
Two days ago, Epic Games in a statement announced that Chapter 2 release date would be pushed to early February of next year, despite an initial planned release of October of this year. It was not clear if this has to do anything with the leaks, but its certainly not out of the question. Gamers will need to wait a little longer to get their hands on the newly modeled battle map.
