Epic Games makes two-factor authentication mandatory for free games users

The feature was implemented on April 28, to encourage gamers to adopt better security practices on their accounts with the online store.

The news makes Epic the second major gaming company to emphasize the need for two-factor authentication in recent days. Nintendo strongly urged its customers to deploy two-factor authentication after a series of fraudulent attacks in which hackers gained access to Nintendo accounts (and the PayPal accounts that were linked to them). Many of the victims of those attacks were using unique passwords, which suggests that the passwords were insufficient when used as the sole security factor for an account.

Epic’s new store rule is temporary and will only be in effect until May 21. Epic indicated that it will use security codes as the second authentication factor for its users, and will ask them to implement the feature with the following message: “Claiming this free game requires you to have Two-Factor Authentication setup on your account. Two-Factor Authentication provides an additional level of security to your Epic Games account and will help prevent unauthorized access.”