Epic Games has filed a lawsuit against a Fortnite user knowledge tester for leaking information and facts about the game.
As spotted by Polygon, the developer alleges that a tester referred to as Ronald Sykes leaked information and facts about the current Chapter two occasion that saw the the original Fortnite map get sucked into a black hole, taking the game offline for a couple of days prior to it ultimately returned with a new map.
Particularly, Epic claims that Sykes broke his “contractual obligation to hold its secrets about he upcoming season of Fortnite” by sharing information about new gameplay attributes and the new map ahead of time, adding that the defendant eventually chose to money in on what he discovered in the course of his stint as a user knowledge tester.
“Sykes attempted to ‘give the game away’ by leaking Epic’s secrets and spoiling the suspense that Epic had been operating to produce and develop for months in the run up to Fortnite Chapter two,” reads the lawsuit.
“His disclosure of Epic’s trade secrets materially breached his non-disclosure agreement [… and his] spoilers did just what the word itself suggests: they diminished the anticipation of what was to come and the joy of searching forward to it.
“Leaks negatively influence the economic efficiency of existing and future versions of the game. They have a tendency to lessen the excitement and enthusiasm of a game’s players and audience, potentially top them to move to other games.”
Epic is demanding injunction relief and maximum damages for Sykes’ alleged breach of contract and willful misappropriation of trade secrets, and also desires to avoid the tester from disclosing or applying any extra information and facts in the future.