Epic argument: Video game as addictive as cocaine

A law firm in Montreal is seeking class action status for a lawsuit it filed against the makers of the video game Fortnite on behalf of two parents who claim that the game is as addictive as drugs, the website PCGamer.com reported Monday.

Parents in droves are claiming that their children had become dependent on the addictive game created by Epic Games Inc., a game they would not have let their children play had they realized there was a risk of not being able to turn it off, officials with the law firm Calex Légal told reporters.

In the suit, the firm compared Fortnite to “cocaine and tobacco,” claiming that Epic “knowingly put on the market a very, very addictive game which was also geared toward youth,” alleging that the company hired psychologists and “really dug into the human brain and they really made the effort to make it as addictive as possible,” according to the article.

The firm said it believes the case has the same legal grounds as a 2015 class action lawsuit against tobacco companies for not telling customers about the dangers of smoking, according to the news site.

The Epic lawsuit was filed just after the World Health Organization officially recognized “gaming disorder” as a disease, according to the article.