Epic paid a loot-box settlement in V-Bucks, a currency that costs it little to issue

Ars Technica reported in February 2021 that Epic proposed settling a class action over randomized 'loot llamas' that Fortnite's Save the World mode sold until early 2019. Under the deal every player who ever bought a loot llama gets 1,000 V-Bucks (about $8), automatically. Rocket League players who bought randomized crates or keys before Epic stopped selling them in October 2019 get 1,000 credits (about $9.10). Epic said the V-Bucks deal applies to Fortnite players globally, and nobody has to claim it.

Epic also offered up to $26.5 million in cash and other benefits to US players, up to $50 per claimant, available only to those who submit a claim form saying the purchase was consumer fraud or breach of contract; California minors who bought without parental permission were eligible for refunds too. Epic's stated position was that players should know upfront what they are paying for, so it now sells only X-Ray Llamas that reveal their contents.

A purely virtual currency has minimal direct cost for the publisher.

Players who would have bought V-Bucks anyway simply spend the gift instead, so the real cost is lower than the headline value.

Some lapsed players never use their windfall, which reduces the cost further.

The gift can lure players back, so Ars suggested it could even work as a promotion, like Nintendo's 1991 $5-coupon settlement.

In a consumer settlement, paying in your own currency can cost far less than its face value and double as a promotion.

Epic estimated roughly 6.5 million Fortnite and 2.9 million Rocket League players would receive the automatic payments, which Ars valued at over $78.3 million in digital goods; Epic later clarified those counts covered only US players, with an undisclosed number of non-US Fortnite players also paid. Ars judged the actual cost to Epic would be much lower than that valuation. Epic said the deal had preliminary approval.