MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Epic Games is suing a former Fortnite user experience tester Ronald Sykes after they shared details of Fortnite’s Chapter 2 ahead of its official reveal.
In a civil suit filed in North Carolina, Epic Games’ lawyers are seeking “injunctive relief and damages […] for misappropriation of trade secrets” and requests compensation for “a sum certain reflecting the maximum amount of damages”, as well as covering the developer’s legal costs after Sykes purportedly shared a “trade secret” and broke the terms of their non-disclosure agreement.
“Information is currency,” the lawsuit said. “Sykes cashed in on what he learned as a User Experience tester for Epic. He did so at the expense of Epic and those in the Fortnite community who were anxiously awaiting the new season of Fortnite only to have some of Epic’s planned surprises spoiled by Sykes’ leaks.”
“As a direct result of Sykes’ breach of his contractual obligations under his NDA,” Epic’s lawyers said in the lawsuit, “Epic has sustained and will continue to sustain damages in an amount to be determined.”
As detailed by Polygon, Sykes allegedly tweeted that they had “played S11 and can tell you the new stuff” on the now-deleted Twitter account, @invisiblellama9. Epic also alleges Sykes also had an alternate account that revealed further undisclosed information before Chapter 2 released, including confirmation that players could swim and a screenshot of the new map.
Sykes did not respond to Polygon’s request for comment, whilst an Epic representative told the outlet it does not comment on ongoing litigation.
See below for the full lawsuit.
Epic Games leaker lawsuit by Polygondotcom on Scribd
