Electronic Arts is currently facing several lawsuits in France over the popular Ultimate Team, as the suits are claiming that the mode should be considered a form of gambling.
EA Lawsuits in France
According to the French publication L’Équipe, two lawsuits have been filed against Electronic Arts over the publisher’s Ultimate Team mode in the FIFA game. Two lawyers in France, Karim Morand-Lahouzi and Victor Zagury, have taken on the cases against the game publisher in an “effort to highlight the risks attached for players” in Ultimate Team modes.
Victor Zagary spoke to L’Équipe about the lawsuit and the addiction behind the game mode. “In this game, everyone wants to have a dream team to go as far as possible. My client spent €600 in five months without ever getting a big player. The developers of this game mode have created an illusionary and particularly addictive system,” Zagary told the French publication. The two lawyers will argue that in order to win in Ultimate Team, one must be able to pay and gamble, as players spend money on packs that can include any player in the game.
L’Équipe also spoke to one Football Ultimate Team (FUT) player who said that since FIFA 20 was released in September, that individual spent €600 on packs, and the best player he received was someone who never even heard of. The individual told the publication, “You quickly become addicted to this game… whenever I buy a pack, I tell myself that this is the last time, but I always do it again. You get so frustrated when you don’t get good enough players that you buy again and again.”
This certainly isn’t the first attempt to fight back against EA and microtransactions. EA had to defend their use of loot boxes before U.K. Parliament in June. And in the United States, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) proposed a bill in May banning gaming companies from selling loot boxes to minors.
As to whether these lawsuits will be successful, we’ll just have to wait and see. For more gaming news, be sure to keep checking out the SGO site.
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