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

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - Client 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 players to spend more cash while playing a popular soccer game.

The teams Fairplay, Heart for Digital Democracy and 13 other organizations urged the Federal Commerce Fee to probe the EA recreation "FIFA: Ultimate Crew".

Within the game, players construct a soccer crew using avatars of actual gamers and compete in opposition to other groups. In a letter to the FTC, the teams mentioned the game often prices $50 to $100 however that the company pushed push gamers to spend extra.

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"It entices players to buy packs in search of particular gamers," stated the letter sent by these groups together with the Client Federation of America and Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health and others.

The packs, or loot containers, are packages of digital content material sometimes purchased with real money that give the purchaser a possible advantage in a game. They can be purchased with digital forex, which may obscure how a lot is spent, they said.

"The probabilities of opening a coveted card, akin to a Player of the Yr, are miniscule until a gamer spends thousands of dollars on factors or performs for thousands of hours to earn coins," the groups said within the letter.

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

"Spending is always optionally available," a company spokesperson mentioned in an e mail statement. "We encourage using parental controls, including spend controls, which might be accessible for each main gaming platform, together with EA's own platforms."

The spokesperson also said the company created a dashboard so players would track how a lot time they performed, what number of packs they opened and what purchases have been made.

The FTC, which fits after corporations engaged in misleading behavior, held a workshop on loot packing containers in 2019. In a "employees perspective" which followed, the agency noted that video game microtransactions have change into a multibillion-dollar market.

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

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