Teams urge U.S. to probe ‘loot field’ on Electronic Arts video game

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - Shopper advocates on Thursday urged U.S. regulators to investigate online game maker Electronic Arts Inc (EA.O) for what they say was the deceptive use of a digital "loot box" that "aggressively" urges gamers to spend more money whereas enjoying a preferred soccer game.

The groups Fairplay, Center for Digital Democracy and 13 other organizations urged the Federal Trade Commission to probe the EA recreation "FIFA: Ultimate Team".

Within the recreation, gamers build a soccer staff utilizing avatars of real gamers and compete against different groups. In a letter to the FTC, the groups said the sport usually costs $50 to $100 however that the company pushed push gamers to spend extra.

Register

"It entices gamers to buy packs looking for particular players," said the letter despatched by these teams together with the Shopper Federation of America and Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health and others.

The packs, or loot bins, are packages of digital content typically bought with actual cash that give the purchaser a possible advantage in a recreation. They are often bought with digital foreign money, which may obscure how a lot is spent, they mentioned.

"The possibilities of opening a coveted card, resembling a Player of the Yr, are miniscule until a gamer spends hundreds of dollars on factors or plays for 1000's of hours to earn cash," the teams stated in the letter.

Electronic Arts mentioned in a press release on Thursday that of the game's thousands and thousands of players, 78% have not made an in-game buy.

"Spending is all the time optional," a company spokesperson said in an electronic mail assertion. "We encourage the use of parental controls, together with spend controls, which might be available for every main gaming platform, including EA's own platforms."

The spokesperson additionally stated the corporate created a dashboard so gamers would track how much time they performed, what number of packs they opened and what purchases were made.

The FTC, which fits after firms engaged in deceptive behavior, held a workshop on loot containers in 2019. In a "staff perspective" which followed, the company famous that online game microtransactions have change into a multibillion-dollar market.

Register

Reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington Editing by David Gregorio and Matthew Lewis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Rules.