Epic says this contractor leaked ‘Fortnite’ spoilers. He has an explanation.

A contract worker says he confirmed a major spoiler about Epic Games’ hit title “Fortnite,” but only after the man who posted the news to Reddit had guessed what part of the game’s map was about to get hit by a meteor.

In a North Carolina federal court filing, Raleigh resident Thomas Hannah denied that he was a source of any of the other spoilers about “Fortnite” Season 4 that surfaced just before its roll-out on May 1.

But Hannah admitted that a man named Adam DiMarco “pumped [him] with a series of questions” about the game because he’d been in on a March video conference with members of the team that’s working on “Fortnite” for Epic.

That included “answers to the question of whether a meteor was going to hit and where it was going to hit,” he said in answer to the breach-of-contract lawsuit Cary-based Epic filed against him in early May.

DiMarco’s questions turned to “guesses regarding where the meteor would hit,” and Hannah admitted telling him first that it “wouldn’t be hitting a place one would expect” and then told him it wouldn’t hit a portion of the “Fortnite” map called “Tilted Towers.”

DiMarco — the person Epic believes was going by the Reddit handle “internetadam” — then “gathered on his own and guessed if it would be” another part of the map called “Dusty Depot.”

Hannah “confirmed yes” and DiMarco “then unilaterally published the information he had deduced on his own,” according to court documents, filed by Hannah’s Raleigh-based lawyer, Andrea Winters Morelos.

The filing stressed that DiMarco went ahead and posted the information “without any agreement or instruction” from Hannah.

“Fortnite” has become one of the most popular titles in gaming since its release in 2017, particularly since Epic added a “Hunger Games”-like “battle royale” mode to the third-person shooter that rewards the last player or team standing.

Like other game publishers, Epic uses “seasons” to update its game, the game’s map and the rewards players can earn. The Season 4 meteor and others like it remade portions of the game’s map, with Dusty Depot turning into a crater called “Dusty Divot.”

Hannah was a contract worker Epic hired through an agency called Volt Workforce Solutions. Epic’s sued over the leaks because Hannah signed a non-disclosure agreement before going to work as a quality-assurance tester from Dec. 4 to April 4.

Epic says “Fortnite” is its “most successful game yet,” and that it went to court because spoilers “deprive Fortnite’s players and audience the thrill that comes from the element of suspense” and the delight of experiencing the new season’s twists “all together at the same time.”

“Fortnite” generated $318 million in revenue for Epic in May alone, according to estimates from SuperData Research, an analytics firm that tracks that tracks the games industry.

The firm cautioned that Fortnite’s growth is slowing, as most of its gains in May occurred in the console-gaming segment rather than mobile devices or PCs.

The game is nonetheless raking in so much money that Epic earlier this month signaled that it’ll lower what it charges developers to participate in the Unreal Engine Marketplace.

The marketplace is the online store participants can use to sell artwork, audio clips and other files that can become part of games written, like “Fortnite,” with Epic’s Unreal Engine 4 software development kit.

Speaking to the online publication VentureBeat, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney attributed the decision to the “resulting economies of scale” from “Fortnite” and the store’s own success.

Hannah’s answer to Epic’s lawsuit didn’t signal much about the legal strategy Morelos intends to pursue in defending him. It did, however, ask the judge handling the case, U.S. District Court Judge Terrance Boyle, to deny Epic’s request for damages, attorney’s fees and an injunction.

Morelos couldn’t be reached for comment.