The organisers of Fortnite Live, a dumpster fire of a show that drew almost 3000 people to a showground in England then disappointed them, are being sued by Epic for using the game’s name and imagery without permission.
To recap: the show, which cost parents £12-20 (USD$15-25) to attend, offered a few lame diversions and a bank of PCs that charged people for a game of the otherwise free-to-play Fortnite.
It was trading entirely on the Fortnite brand, but had absolutely zero permission to use it; a small disclaimer on the foot of the event’s website (which is now down) attempted to state this, but Epic, the creator and owner of the game, are having none of it.
An Epic Game spokesperson tells Kotaku that “The quality of our player experience is incredibly important to us, whether it’s inside the game or at official public events like last year’s Fortnite Pro-Am.”
“Epic Games was not in any way associated with the event that took place in Norwich and we’ve issued a claim against the organizers in the High Court of London.”
The legal action has prompted the company behind the show, Exciting Events, to cease trading. “Epic Games, the owners of Fortnite, have now forced the shut down of the two pre-booked future Fortnite Live events”, owner Shaun Lord wrote to attendees.
“These proceedings by Epic Games has had a catastrophic impact on the company’s ability to trade, which has forced Exciting Events Limited to cease all trading activities immediately and the director of Exciting Events will now seek to limit the losses to third parties as far as possible.”