San Francisco: A group of Canadian parents has sued the maker of the video game Fortnite, claiming it turns kids into gaming addicts, which makes them stop eating, sleeping and bathing.
According to BBC, a Canadian Supreme Court judge has approved the lawsuit filed by parents against Epic Games’ Fortnite.
The court documents said that the World Health Organization recognised video game addiction in 2018.
Epic Games said that it had “industry-leading parental controls that empower parents to supervise their child’s digital experience”, according to the report.
“Parents can receive playtime reports that track the amount of time their child plays each week, and require parental permission before purchases are made,” the company said.
“We plan to fight this in court. We believe the evidence will show that this case is meritless,” it added.
In the lawsuit, one of the children cited having played the game for more than 7,700 hours in less than two years, said the report.
Furthermore, the legal action claims that the game was purposefully designed to be “highly addictive”.
More than 350 million people have played the popular online game.
While the game is free to play, players pay to use in-game money called “V Bucks”.
The game has made more than $9 billion worldwide, the report added.
