Business of Esports – Epic Games Wants To Be More Kid-Friendly

Epic games recently announced it would be launching child-friendly accounts on several of the company’s hit games in order to make the gaming space safer and more accessible for kids. These profiles, dubbed Cabined Accounts by Epic, will first be rolled out in Fortnite, Fall Guys, and Rocket League.

Moving forward, all Epic games users will need to provide the company with their age. If a user is under the age of 13, they will have to give Epic the e-mail address of a parent or guardian. Furthermore, children will have to ask the adult for permission to access some of Epic games’ core features. This means that kids need to get approval from a guardian to use microtransactions or voice chat.

“We believe that creating a rich experience within the same overall game or product is the best way to empower younger players to meaningfully participate without compromising on safety or privacy,” Epic games wrote in a blog post. 

The first Cabined Accounts were introduced on December 4th. This date was chosen to coincide with the rollout of Chapter 4 of Fortnite.

The Profit‘s Take:

At first glance, this seems clever, even if the name is kind of weird. They spent development time and effort on this. I don’t know if they had pure intentions, though. This could be about preventing future legal liability. It could also be about data collection.

(All information was provided by Epic games, <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/epic-games-introduces-child-specific-fortnite-accounts”>IGN, <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/epic-games-is-introducing-a-new-child-friendly-account-type-to-make-online–play-safer/”>PC Gamer, and YouTube)