Calex Legal would file the lawsuit, which has not been certified by the Quebec Superior Court, on behalf of two Quebec plaintiffs who say their children are dependent on the game. The plaintiffs allege that Epic Games worked with psychologists to make the game highly addictive, then marketed it to youth. (La Presse)

Talking point: If the request for certification goes forward, this would be the first class-action lawsuit in Canada against a video game company on the basis of addiction. It’s based on a 2015 Quebec Superior Court ruling, which fined tobacco companies $15 billion for failing to warn customers about the dangers of smoking. In 2018, the World Health Organization classified video game addiction as a disease—a fact Calex noted in its filing—but it’s unclear whether that will be enough to substantiate the plaintiffs’ claims. One potential roadblock is a class-action waiver included in the game’s terms of service, but a Calex attorney said that provision doesn’t apply in Quebec, where the Consumer Protection Act requires companies to disclose risks associated with their products. One similar, smaller lawsuit ended in the plaintiff’s favour in the past—in 2010, a man successfully sued South Korean software firm NCSoft for making a game too addictive.