Epic Sues Another Fortnite Leaker, While Twitch Bans Streamer For Seven Days

How much can a few minutes of internet fame cost? The answer would appear to be around $85,000, which is what Epic Games is seeking in yet another lawsuit against a tester who leaked Fortnite: Battle Royale Chapter 2 info ahead of its October launch, in violation of his NDA.

The Canadian Press is reporting that (now-former) tester Lucas Johnston took a screenshot of the then-upcoming new content that wound up on an online forum, a month before Chapter 2 went live. Johnston was seen taking the screenshot by security cameras at Montreal-based Keywords Studios, which provides testing services for Epic and other developers.

Johnston has admitted to taking the screenshot but claims not to know how it wound up online. According to the article, Epic is seeking "yet-unspecified damages exceeding $85,000" for the breach, which "deprived the claimant of the element of surprise" and may have led to its competitors having a financial advantage.

As one legal expert put it, the large sum isn't necessarily representative of the actual damages to Epic Games, but is instead meant to act as a deterrent to any future would-be leakers. "If they've suffered serious commercial losses on a worldwide scale, (the defendant) is not going to have the assets to pay that back." Wait, you mean a random game tester doesn't just have $85,000 sitting around, ready to be deployed in case of emergency lawsuit?

In other Fortnite news, being banned is bad, but apparently even associating with banned players is also bad. Pro player Cody "Clix" Conrad received a seven-day suspension from Twitch for streaming with a permanently banned player who goes by "Zayn," which goes against Twitch's terms of service. At least he's not in danger of losing $85,000 or being banned for life by Epic, which makes this a rather tame punishment in Fortnite-land.