Epic Games has filed a lawsuit against a Fortnite user experience tester for leaking information about the game.
As spotted by Polygon, the developer alleges that a tester called Ronald Sykes leaked information about the recent Chapter 2 event that saw the the original Fortnite map get sucked into a black hole, taking the game offline for a couple of days before it eventually returned with a new map.
Specifically, Epic claims that Sykes broke his “contractual obligation to keep its secrets about he upcoming season of Fortnite” by sharing details about new gameplay features and the new map ahead of time, adding that the defendant ultimately chose to cash in on what he learned during his stint as a user experience tester.
“Sykes attempted to ‘give the game away’ by leaking Epic’s secrets and spoiling the suspense that Epic had been working to generate and build for months in the run up to Fortnite Chapter 2,” 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 looking forward to it.
“Leaks negatively impact the financial performance of current and future versions of the game. They tend to lessen the excitement and enthusiasm of a game’s players and audience, potentially leading 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 wants to prevent the tester from disclosing or using any more information in the future.