The fines are to be paid after allegations the company violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and deployed design tricks, known as dark patterns, to dupe millions of players into making unintentional purchases.

The two record-breaking settlements are made up of a $275m (£228m) monetary penalty for violating the COPPA rule — the largest penalty ever obtained for violating an FTC rule— and a $245m (£203m) fine under which Epic is ordered to refund consumers for its dark patterns and billing practices. The latter is the FTC’s largest refund amount in a gaming case, and its largest administrative order in history.

Additionally, in a first-of-its-kind provision, Epic will be required to adopt strong privacy default settings for children and teens, ensuring that voice and text communications are turned off by default. 

FTC chair Lina M. Khan said: “As our complaints note, Epic used privacy-invasive default settings and deceptive interfaces that tricked Fortnite users, including teenagers and children.

“Protecting the public, and especially children, from online privacy invasions and dark patterns is a top priority for the Commission, and these enforcement actions make clear to businesses that the FTC is cracking down on these unlawful practices.”

Epic’s video game Fortnite is generally free to download and play but charges users for in-game items such as costumes and dance moves. The game has more than 400 million users worldwide.