How a Billion Dollar Video Game Company Incentivizes Password Protection
If you can count on one thing in IT, it’s that where there is money being made, there will be people leveraging technology to steal it. Which is why Epic Games, the creators of the viral free online game Fortnite have decided to take steps to incentivize enabling Two-Factor authentication.
What makes Fortnite unique is it’s accessibility — with over 125 million users (June 2018) across 6 different platforms, they cash in by selling V-Bucks to spend on cosmetic items such as skins & emotes.
Selling these items which grant no competitive advantage, have generated over a billion dollars in revenue. Which leads me back to the original statement — where there is money, there are thieves.
Epic games is rewarding their users with a free emote for enabling one of the two different two-factor authentication options they have available. They have email authentication or authenticator apps such as Google, Last Pass, Microsoft, and Authy.
What are the benefits of 2FA & why did Epic make this a priority?
Additional Layer of Security
The obvious benefit is that it adds an additional layer of password security to keep the customers account protected. Even if the potential intruder has your password, it is not likely they will have access to the second element.
Brand Reputation
It is incredibly important for companies who deal directly with the consumer to protect their brand reputation by limiting any & all security threats. The statistics behind bad practice in password use are staggering but that’s a conversation for another time.
Epic Games understands that it may not be their fault if a users account is hacked but it does raise the concern of losing customers or additional revenue while also having the brand reputation hurt by user error.
Lower Helpdesk & Security Management Costs
What may seem obvious but is somewhat of an afterthought — the increase in productivity & savings on security management. With 2FA implemented, there is a natural decrease in the amount of trouble tickets.
On average, a trouble ticket has a resolution time of about 20 minutes. Lowering the frequency in trouble tickets directly leads to customer satisfaction & increased employee productivity.
Two-Factor Authentication has been an option for Fortnite for a while now but by incentivizing it with an emote they have been able to increase the amount of users who have the feature enabled. Another great move by one of the fastest growing games in the history of gaming.
Learn what BillowIP does to help it’s clients create a safe environment with cyber security solutions such as password management, threat detection, and more.
About the Author
James Migliore is a Co-Founder & Managing Partner at BillowIP. His goal is to help simplify information technology for his clients by serving as a valuable resource in procurement, project management, and support for IT services. You may get in contact with James through email: james@billowip.com or connect with him on LinkedIn
