After the Dutch, the Americans start to have had enough of loot boxes (that Electronic Arts loves to use in its games…).

The publisher is facing another class-action lawsuit in the United States connected to its Ultimate Team loot boxes, this time focused on its alleged use of Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA onwards). the suit was filed in the US District Court of Northern California by plaintiffs Jason Zajonc, Danyael Williams, and Pranko Lozano. They accuse Electronic Arts of using DDA in three of its EA Sports franchises (Madden NFL, FIFA, and NHL) across all of its games ranging back to their respective 2017 versions.

The plaintiffs claim that Electronic Arts uses this technology to push players into purchasing more loot boxes (which are called Player Packs in these games), saying that it effectively makes even high stat players not play as well as they should; even though the publisher claims the DDA intends to allow AI to adjust difficulty on the fly to keep players from becoming either too bored or frustrated with the challenge level of a game, keeping them playing longer. The suit also notes that the publisher uses this technology without disclosing it to players, adding that EA has denied its use in the past in multiple games mentioned in the suit.

„Electronic Arts’ undisclosed use of Difficulty Adjusting Mechanisms deprives gamers who purchase Player Packs of the benefit of their bargains because EA’s Difficulty Adjusting Mechanisms, rather than only the stated ranking of the gamers’ Ultimate Team players and the gamers’ relative skill, dictates, or at least highly influences the outcome of the match. This is a self-perpetuating cycle that benefits EA to the detriment of EA Sports gamers since Difficulty Adjusting Mechanisms make gamers believe their teams are less skilled than they are, leading them to purchase additional Player Packs in hopes of receiving better players and being more competitive,” the lawsuit reads.

The plaintiffs say that Electronic Arts’ actions violate the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, False Advertising Law, Unfair Competition Law, and qualify as unjust enrichment, and they are seeking the court to compel EA to stop misrepresenting Player Packs and Cards, including a corrective advertising campaign, and restitution of funds acquired by any practices the court deems unlawful.

In 2017, Electronic Arts was also granted a separate patent on a matchmaking algorithm. It similarly stated that it aims to keep players engaged for longer. It was criticized because it could have been used to push the players towards microtransactions. However, we don’t know if the technology has been used since or not.

Electronic Arts is currently facing two other lawsuits connected to Ultimate Team: one in the United States alleging the mode breaks California state gambling laws, and one in Canada accusing the publisher of running „an unlicensed, illegal gaming system through their loot boxes.”

And the publisher responded with the following statement: „We believe the claims are baseless and misrepresent our games, and we will defend.” Oh boy.

Source: Gamesindustry

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