Epic Games sues beta tester over Fortnite Chapter 2 leaks

Epic Games is suing former beta tester Ronald Sykes over information leaked from the pre-release user experience testing of Fortnite Battle Royale's recently-released Chapter 2 - and is claiming it 'has sustained and will continue to sustain damages' as a result of his actions.

Epic's Fortnite has been a story of surprising success. Originally launched as a cooperative player-versus-environment (PvE) title dubbed Fortnite Save the World, the game was quickly retooled into a battle royale title - dubbed, in the least imaginative way possible, Fortnite Battle Royale - in response to the success of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. In its new form, the game rocketed to the top of the charts and continues to pull in players - as demonstrated by Epic's clever marketing for the Chapter 2 update to the game, in which it took the entire platform offline for an extended period in order to build hype.

That hype, though, was tarnished by alleged leaks from beta tester Ronald Sykes, who now finds himself the target of a lawsuit from the company. Sykes, as reported by Polygon, stands accused of publishing information about Fortnite Chapter 2 to his since-deleted Twitter account - including new game features and a copy of the update's new map - following his participation as a user experience tester for the game.

That, Epic correctly states, is a breach of the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) signed by Sykes in order to participate in the testing. The company further claims that Sykes' breach of contract represents misappropriation of trade secrets and that the company 'has sustained and will continue to sustain damages in an amount to be determined' - and the company intends to be financially compensated for said damages to the maximum permissible under law.

Neither Epic nor Sykes have publicly commented on the suit.