Since I added Island Transactions in one of my map (7121-1251-3865), I have made 2 more updates of it and each time I have to fill out IARC questionnaire again because I get this message: “Your IARC rating is missing “In-Game Purchaes” interactive element required for islands with in-island transactions. Retake the questionnaire to update your rating”. I filled out the questionnaire with the same answers every time (I took screenshots just to be sure) and it passed right away. So it seems there is some error in the map data check process, so it forces me to get a new rating, even though it’s not needed.
Please select what you are reporting on:
Unreal Editor for Fortnite
What Type of Bug are you experiencing?
Publishing
Steps to Reproduce
Create new update of the map 7121-1251-3865 after I added Island Transactions to it in earlier version that is published and for which I already filled IARC questionnaire to get a new rating
Expected Result
I don’t have to take IARC questionnaire every time with the identical answers to get a new rating when making an update
Observed Result
Since adding Island Transactions, for which I had to retake IARC questionnaire to get a new rating, I made 2 more updates and for each of them I had to retake questionnaire again just to fill it with the exactly same answers
I just did a new update of that map and I was forced to get a new IARC rating again, so I filled out the questionnaire with the same answers for the fourth time in a row.
There is some issue with updating the rating. I looked at the IARC website for details of all 4 ratings (Rating Check Request Form) I created since adding IIT and in a column “Interactive Elements” there is “In-Game Purchases” present for all Rating Systems except “PEGI” where it is missing.
Because I did screenshots of all related pages everytime, I checked them and noticed that everytime when I filled out the questionnaire, the page at Creator Portal (not at IARC website), which shows all informations from the newly created rating, had the “In-Game Purchases” in a column “Interactive Elements” for all Rating Systems, including PEGI. There is data discrepancy between that step of a Rating creation and what will happen next.
On the map details page on Fortnite.com, there should be “In-Game Purchases” next to “Users Interact” in a box with the PEGI rating, but it was not there.
So I unpublished the map few hours ago (just to be sure) and right now created a new update for it where I removed all code regarding IIT, so there is actually nothing to buy with VBucks at this newest version.
I should also mention following:
There were no random items which could be purchased or influenced with VBucks, nor were there any that could be “bought” or influenced by some in-game actions or items that could also be purchased with VBucks.
The map was ignored in Discover for whole month since I added ITT, no matter what I did in updates, which was unusual for this specific map, but I thought it’s because of the recent changes to Discover that came into effect at about the same time.
I added IIT to another map only 1 month earlier and there are no IARC issues with it. Verse code for it is the same for both maps (not everything is identical, because maps are different, but the structure and logic of the related code is the same).
I asked Epic’s Developer Assistant AI about it and this is the answer:
"PEGI requires a specific sub-disclosure for in-game purchases. When retaking the questionnaire, ensure you pay close attention to the Digital Purchases section:
-- Ensure you select Yes for “Does the app allow users to purchase digital goods?”
– PEGI specifically tracks if these purchases include “Random Items” (Loot Boxes/Gacha). Even if your map does not use them, ensure you haven’t accidentally selected a “No” in a sub-menu that PEGI uses to categorize the purchase type.
– Check if there is a question about “Paid Random Items.” If your map uses the PaidRandomItem value in Verse or the Purchase API, you must disclose this accurately for PEGI to generate the correct interactive element."
That answer regarding selecting “No” doesn’t make sense, but when I asked for clarification, it replied with this: “Sorry, I can’t assist with that issue as it violates Epic’s terms of use.”
Thank you for detailed answer. That will hopefully allow Epic Support to fix the problems and stop devs being SANCTIONED for getting the paperwork related to IIT islands wrong!
