It seems that while Epic Games won The Game Awards with generous offerings of competing against steam with having their own lineup of exclusive titles on the store, under-cutting Steam by giving developers 88% of cut from sales, and offering free games, there had to be a catch. It seems that the Epic Games store is good for consumers until you look behind the scenes and see how they are very anti-consumer with their data practices.
Epic Games Store & GDPR – You Can’t Dance Your Way Out
Reddit users over at /r/PCGaming ran through Epic Games store privacy policy with a fine-tooth comb and uncovered some very shady practices from the company. The most important part is listed below:
If you are located in the EU or the Epic entities located in the EU process your personal information in the EU, then you have the right to restrict or object to our processing of your personal information. The right to restrict processing arises only in limited circumstances, for example, if you think we are processing inaccurate information. In addition, if we are required to restrict processing but the requirement is temporary, we may not be permanently obligated to adhere to your request.
What Does It Mean?
For those of you unaware, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) was a law that is applied throughout the whole of the European Union and demands strict transparency between consumer and corporation. Consumers have the right to not have their data shared with advertisers, request for all existing data that companies have on them, and other rights that consumers are obligated to in light of major data scandals like Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica.
The above states that if you do not wish for your personal data to be shared with advertisers, Epic games will have to take it under consideration and even then the suspension of data sharing will only be temporary, or they have the right to deny the request.
Companies like Sony and Apple have been made to comply with GDPR and those companies are titans compared to Epic Games. How Epic Games hope to get away with such an act is unfathomable and will soon face backlash from EU consumers.
What are your thoughts on Epic Games and their policies? Let us know in the comments section below.