A lawsuit levied against EA and its EA Sports division that claimed the company intentionally scripted moments in its various sports games has been resolved.
In the case Zajonc v. Electronic Arts, the plaintiffs claimed that EA was intentionally scripting events in Madden NFL, FIFA, and NHL. The filings stated that the the company was using its patented Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA) technology in the games.
By using this technology, the court filings said, EA Sports was intentionally scripting and altering contests in order to get players to spend more money. This specifically was focused on the game’s Ultimate Team offerings that involve various microtransactions.
EA Lawsuit Disproved DDA Allegations
While being tried in California, the lawsuit has been dismissed by the plaintiffs, according to EA itself.
“We provided them with detailed technical information and access to speak with our engineers, all of which confirmed (again) that there is no DDA or scripting in Ultimate Team modes,” the company said. “This is the right result.”
EA did mention that it does own a patent for the aforementioned DDA. However, that technology never made an appearance in the game code for Madden NFL, FIFA, or NHL. The company went even further with a commitment to “never” put it in the game.
“We would not use DDA technology to give players an advantage or disadvantage in online multiplayer modes in any of our games and we absolutely do not have it in FIFA, Madden or NHL.
“EA and the FIFA, Madden and NHL teams remain committed to fair play.”
The resolution of the game scripting lawsuit is good news for EA as a company, certainly. The Redwood City-based publisher has been hit with multiple lawsuits over the years regarding loot boxes, licensing, and more. Some of those cases have yet to be tried, but are expected to begin this year.