Lawsuits Over Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft Gaming Addiction To Be Evaluated at JPML Hearing

Complaints identify Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft as “gateway” games designed to lead children into mentally damaging addictive behaviors for the sake of profits.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) will hear oral arguments on December 4, 2025, to determine whether all federal gateway video game addiction lawsuits involving the games Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox should be consolidated before one judge for pretrial proceedings, and possibly early bellwether trials.

In recent months parents have filed a growing number of complaints nationwide, indicating their children suffered behavioral and mental health problems because developers designed their games to take advantage of developing minds. The complaints allege that leading developers and publishers intentionally put features into their products that foster gaming addiction, particularly in multiplayer online “live service” platforms.

The manufacturers also face accusations that their games illegally track children’s online activity and use the data to build algorithms that pressure them with targeted ads and in-game purchases.

The gaming addiction lawsuits describe practices such as promoting loot boxes with random rewards, forcing long play sessions to obtain rare item “drops,” and selling pay-to-win upgrades or cosmetic extras, all of which the plaintiffs allege are designed to exploit young players.

In addition to accusations regarding the deliberately addictive and exploitative design of these video games, Roblox in particular also faces a separate series of lawsuits alleging that its platform has directly resulted in years of child sexual abuse and exploitation, even though it has been marketed as a safe game for kids.

Many of these Roblox lawsuits, which plaintiffs are currently seeking consolidation of in a separate MDL in the Northern District of California, claim that Roblox failed to protect children by not implementing and enforcing adequate safety measures, which has led to in-person assaults, sextortion, explicit image exchange and severe psychological harm, including attempted and completed suicides.

Videogame Addiction MDL

Last month, a plaintiff filed a motion to transfer, requesting the JPML assign all federal gaming addiction lawsuits involving the games Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox before one judge for coordinated pretrial proceedings in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

On October 10, the panel issued a Notice of Hearing Session (PDF) agreeing to hear oral arguments from plaintiffs and defendants on whether to heed the plaintiffs’ request for the creation of a video game addiction multidistrict litigation (MDL). The hearing is scheduled for December 4 in the United States Courthouse in Austin, Texas.

This will be the second time the JPML has considered such a request in less than two years. In June 2024, the panel rejected video game addiction lawsuit consolidation involving more than two dozen companies and multiple games, indicating the litigation involved too many of each to benefit from centralization.

To address the panel’s concerns, plaintiffs have focused on Epic Games’ Fortnite, Roblox Corporation’s Roblox, and Microsoft’s Minecraft, indicating that these are “gateway” games that lead the industry in games designed to addict children. The developers currently face at least 17 actions involving the three games, which are currently spread across seven different U.S. District Courts.

If the JPML agrees to consolidate the gaming addiction lawsuits against Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft, all current and future claims brought by families throughout the federal court system will be transferred to one judge, who will oversee coordinated discovery, pretrial motions, and potentially a series of early bellwether test cases.

If the parties fail to reach gateway video gaming addiction settlements or another resolution for the litigation after all pretrial proceedings are concluded, each individual lawsuit may later be remanded back to the U.S. District Court where it was initially filed for an individual trial date in the future.

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