Epic Games Store Flagging Sale Purchases as Fraud, Blocks User Accounts

Update: Senior public relations representative Nick Chester told GameSkinny that “only .00001% of customers were impacted by this [the store’s anti-fraud measures]. The original story follows. 

The Epic Games Store’s big ongoing sale isn’t going over quite so well with many consumers after the site flagged their accounts for fraud.

Consumers who make five purchases are automatically flagged for fraud after the fifth purchase since each purchase on the store must be made separately; no cart feature means no combined purchases.

Twitch streamer Patrick Boivin pointed out the issue on Twitter. He purchased five games and, after trying to purchase a sixth, received an error message asking him to contact EGS customer service.

Whether he did, Boivin doesn’t say. However, GameRevolution reached out to Epic about the matter, and Nick Chester, the company’s senior public relations representative, said it was because of the site’s aggressive anti-fraud measures.

Chester didn’t provide any comment about whether the issue would be resolved, only saying, “If players run into this issue, they should contact player support so we can investigate.”

It should be said that at this point, though, that it isn’t clear whether the incident is an isolated one or something affecting more than just a few customers. We’ve reached out to Epic’s PR to find out more.

However, it’s not the only issue with the Epic Games Store’s first big sale. The primary draw for the event was how Epic is shouldering the sales costs because publishers and developers still get the full amount of goods sold.

Some aren’t very happy about that, though. Several unreleased games, including Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2, are going on sale while still available for pre-order. 

Other publishers, like Klei and 2K, pulled their games with no explanation. However, consumers are reporting that pre-orders made while games like Borderlands 3 were in the sale are still being honored at the sale price.

Despite snagging multiple high-profile exclusivity deals, the Epic Games Store remains controversial for many gamers, and this latest set of debacles connected to the sale isn’t doing much to help endear consumers to the platform.