How This 14-Year-Old Developer Got Caught Up in a Video Game Addiction Lawsuit

Lawyers have been furiously filing lawsuits against the biggest video game companies, alleging video game addiction: that developers and publishers are intentionally making their games as addictive as possible in an attempt to extort money from players. Activision Blizzard, Epic Games, Nintendo, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Roblox have all been named in most — if not all — of the dozens of lawsuits filed over the past two years.

At least 11 of the lawsuits were filed by Bullock Ward Mason, an Atlanta-based law firm that claims on its website that the companies’ games are “intentionally designed with the help of Ph.D. behavioral psychologists and neuroscientists” to keep players active and spending money. Taken literally, the lawsuits are an attempt to hold a powerful industry accountable. (At least one lawsuit has been dismissedbut others are still awaiting trial. Lawyers in 15 lawsuits tried to consolidate into one mega pack (The lawsuit was heard earlier this year in a single court, but that request was denied due to the differences in each case. Microsoft, Epic Games, Meta and others are seeking to drop the lawsuits and send the separate cases to arbitration; Polygon has reached out for comment.) In addition to the Activision Blizzards and Nintendos of the industry, at least one of those lawsuits cites addiction allegations not just against major studios but also against small studios with solo developers. A parent is suing on behalf of their own teenager, and represented in part by Bullock Mason Ward, the 14-year-old developer of a virtual reality game called Capuchin for creating a game that they claim is designed to be “as addictive as possible.””

James Napier, who Polygon interviewed along with his mother Jennifer Napier, uses the name Banana Analytics for his game Capuchinan iteration of the popular VR game Gorilla tag. Capuchin was released in 2022 on the Meta Quest store and has had thousands of concurrent players. Banana Analytics is now a registered company owned by Napier and his parents. Napier started developing VR games when he was introduced to Unity in 2020 — when he was 10 years old. He first created Penguin gamewhich he described as a “little VR project” before moving on to Capuchin. Like millions of other young people, Napier played Gorilla taga VR game that is exactly what it seems and is the inspiration for Capuchin. Gorilla tag was released in 2021 by Another Axiom, another studio named in this lawsuit. Gorilla tag is a mega hit, attracts 1 million active players daily according to VentureBeat from June 2024.

“I wanted to make something that fulfilled what I felt they were missing,” Napier said. “That’s where Capuchin turned up.” As in Gorilla tagYou play as a monkey, but it’s a capuchin monkey instead of a gorilla. Players chase each other around various environments and obstacles in what is essentially a game of tag, but also a virtual social playground. Napier thought Gorilla tag was missing a horror element so he added that in Capuchinalso; in his game players are chased by monsters. At his most popular, Capuchin more than 10,000 concurrent players, Napier said. For reference, that’s a number that even big-budget games struggle to reach; take the failed AAA project Treatyfor example, with a maximum of 700 players on a Windows PC.

“It was an interesting feeling (to learn about the lawsuit),” Napier said. “It wasn’t a nice feeling. But it did put into perspective how big Capuchin had become in the sense that we were also involved in this lawsuit with companies that own billions of dollars.”

KC, the alias for the minor on whose behalf the lawsuit was filed, was 12 years old when her parents filed the lawsuit against Bullock Ward Mason. The child began playing video games at age 6, the lawsuit says, and has “continued to play video games at an increasing and uncontrollable rate.” The attorneys allege that KC has experienced “a decline in grades, aggression, depression, anxiety, withdrawal symptoms when not playing, withdrawal from life activities, changes in eating patterns, distress, anger, poor hygiene, and physical pain in their hands, eyes and back” as a result of the “brain damage, gaming addiction and harm” caused by gaming, the lawsuit says. Carey Courtright, KC’s mother, says she has “lost hope in her ability to control KC’s gaming time.”

The argument against Capuchin (and all other games from companies named in the lawsuit) is that it “contains significant psychological aspects that encourage continued gaming and ultimately lead to addiction – particularly among minors, young adults, and neurodivergent individuals.” It alleges that “Banana Analytics is specifically designed Capuchin in consultation with psychologists and neuroscientists to determine the best addictive features to incorporate into their games, and/or to base their game design on that of another game that contained features designed in consultation with psychologists and neuroscientists to be as addictive as possible.” The language of this claim is nearly identical for all of the games named in the lawsuit, regardless of the studio or company that developed the game in question. It is also alleged that the studios in question, including Banana Analytics, hold patents for “addictive technology.”

“It was made by me in my room,” said Napier, now 14, when asked if he consulted psychologists or neuroscientists when creating Capuchin. Polygon was unable to locate any patents via public records in the names of Napier or his parents. We also reached out to the plaintiff’s attorneys for clarification on these allegations. Napier made the game himself, with help from a friend or two here and there, he said. Of course, he needed his parents’ permission and help to set up the company, since he’s under 18. His father, Jeff Napier, helps pay for the server bills and now legal fees. He even had to get permission from his parents before adding cosmetics to Capuchin; he sells bananas which players can use to buy hats and costumes for their monkeys.

Napier declined to share how much money he made from it CapuchinBut his mother said fighting the lawsuit has cost $15,000 — money that was taken from Banana Analytics’ profits. “It’s frustrating as a parent because this is James’ business money,” Jennifer said. It’s money that could have been used for college tuition, she said, but is now being used to pay for a lawsuit. “It just sucks,” Napier added.

Napier and his mother said the experience has been stressful for their entire family. They said they’ve tried to contact the plaintiff’s attorneys and explained that Napier doesn’t have the resources listed in the lawsuit, given the way the game was made. (Polygon has also reached out to Bullock Legal Group about the matter.) Jennifer said she’s proud of Napier’s success in game development at such a young age, but she feels protective of him and what that success might look like.

“One of the things that (James) shared with me when he wanted to make this game, and this is what I thought was so cool and what I was so proud of as a parent, was that he just wanted to fill in the gaps. When he made the game, he saw the gaps in Gorilla tag. He would hear complaints from other players when he was in the community. And that was exactly what he wanted to do: create a safe, fun place for these kids to come and play. If you look at his terms of service, he followed them. People were mad at him because he was kicking people out for racial slurs, swearing, things like that,” Jennifer said.

She continued: “He’s just tried to keep it good, healthy fun. Then it’s really discouraging for the gaming community to be a part of this. As a parent, I’m sometimes cautious and I’m really not sure I want him to be a part of this right now, for those reasons.”