Three parents who claim their kids were addicted to the video game Fortnite filed a class-action lawsuit, which a Canadian judge has allowed.
The plaintiffs claim that because their kids were so engrossed in the game, they would skip meals, sleep, and showers.
They stated in court documents that the World Health Organization has recognised video game addiction as of 2018.
The defendants in the complaint include the game’s developer, Epic Games, and its Canadian affiliate.
Video game addiction is not a recognised clinical illness, according to Epic Games.
The popular online game has been played by more than 350 million individuals.
Players must pay to use the virtual currency known as “V Bucks” even though the game is free to play. The game allegedly made over $9 billion (£7.3 billion) in revenue worldwide.
In less than two years, one of the children identified in the case played the game for more than 7,700 hours.
The game was purposefully designed to be “highly addicting,” the lawsuit claims.
The Quebec Superior Court’s Justice Sylvain Lussier determined that the case wasn’t pointless.
He compared early awareness of tobacco addiction to the current understanding of video game addiction, noting that “the negative effect of smoke was not recognised or admitted immediately.”
He decided that Quebec residents who developed signs of addiction after playing the Battle Royale version of Fortnite starting on September 1, 2017, are eligible to participate in the legal action.
