RALEIGH – Epic Games, creators of the megahit Fornite, has filed a civil lawsuit against a former employee for leaking a trade secret relating to its current season of the game released earlier this month.

Filed today, Oct. 25, in the District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, the Cary-based firm claims Ronald Sykes, who worked a User Experience tester for Epic, attempted to “give the game away” by leaking trade secrets and spoiling the suspense that Epic had been working to build for months in the run up to Fortnite Chapter 2.

The lawsuit alleges Sykes’ disclosure materially breached his non-disclosure agreement. The firm says it also hurt its bottom line.

“Leaks negatively impact the financial performance of current and future versions of the game. They tend to lessen the excitement and enthusiasm of a game’s players and audience, potentially leading them to move to other games,” the filing said.

“Sykes’ conduct constitutes misappropriation of Epic’s trade secrets and breach of the terms of the non-disclosure agreement to which he agreed in order to have access to the trade secrets he stole and publicly disclosed, damaging Epic and spoiling the enjoyment of many of Fortnite’s players and fans.”

Epic Games declined to comment on the case.

“We do not comment on pending litigation,” Epic Games spokesperson Brian Sharon told WRAL TechWire.

Epic Games released Fornite Chapter 2 on October 15 after the game disappeared into a black hole for almost 36 hours a few days earlier.

Epic reportedly has made hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from Fortnite since its launch two years ago. The success has turned Epic into a multi-billion-dollar company and its owner, Tim Sweeney, into a billionaire, according to a wide variety of media reports.