Published on: 08/06/2022

Epic Games boss calls Fortnite token ‘scam’, considering lawsuit

Left: Epic Games, Right: Fortnite - CC

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has addressed the emergence of fake cryptocurrency that affiliates itself with the popular battle royale game, Fortnite.

In addition, Sweeney also called out “cryptocurrency marketplaces” for allegedly “enabling” fake and unofficial cryptocurrencies using the “Fortnite” name.

Epic boss responds

Epic exec gave a warning to a project called Fortnite Token, which claims to be a “fair-launch, community-driven” cryptocurrency project made by Fortnite fans.

“There isn’t a Fortnite cryptocurrency,” Sweeney said. “The Twitter accounts promoting such a thing are a scam. Epic’s lawyers are on it. Also, shame on the cryptocurrency marketplaces that enable this kind of thing.”

The Fortnite token Twitter account gave their argument that it wasn’t a “scam” despite the “CEO of Fortnite” stating multiple times it was one.

“This is a fair-launch, community-driven, Fortnite game fans-created cryptocurrency project with no specified owner or company structure behind it or a CEO deciding on its future,” the token’s account replied.

Sweeney was clearly unhappy.

“You can’t use the Fortnite name and images without permission to market an unrelated product,” the chief exec replied.

Sweeney then called out the trading platforms SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, and CronaSwap, as per Decrypt.

At the time of writing, the Fortnite token no longer appeared on the search results on those platforms. Although these decentralized exchanges allow users to buy and sell any token as long as the token’s contact address is provided.

Fortnite token, previous similar case

Sweeney mentioned the use of “Fortnite name and images without permission” is one of the problems faced by this alleged scam token. The Fortnite Token was thought to be released near the end of 2021. It uses the big “F”, the purple color and is closely similar to the “Fortnite” game logo font.

This case reminded Fortnite fans of a similar case in the past. Back in October, scammers were reported promising users that they would be able to exchange Fortnite’s digital currency, V-Bucks, for dollars using a “Fortnite Coin.”

In terms of trading volume, Fortnite Token (FNT) did not seem to do well. According to data by Nomics, it shows that only a few people are trading the FNT token. Since January, FNT has been down 96% and is worth nearly nothing at $0.0000007673. The token has only seen about $250 in total volume traded recently.

Epic Games, GRIT release

GRIT will be the first NFT title to debut on the Epic Games Store following an official collaboration with Epic at its Galaverse convention on June 6.

“Epic is a pioneer and visionary in the video game industry. Gala Games’ titles being available on the Epic Game Store brings legitimacy to this new genre of gaming,” said Gala president of games John Osvald.

“Easy access to Web3 games is a turning point for those players who have not yet seen how digital ownership can enrich the gaming experience.”

GRIT—which reportedly will be featuring NFTs—is going to be the first blockchain game to be released on the Epic Games store.

Users and fans quickly pointed out Sweeney’s position in September last year that called the NFT market “tangled up with an intractable mix of scams.”

Now, he seems to have changed his mind completely on NFTs following the release of GRIT.

“When new technology emerges, some put it to good use, and others put it to bad use,” Sweeney said. “It would be terribly shortsighted to ban an entire field of technology for such a reason.”

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