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

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - Client advocates on Thursday urged U.S. regulators to research online game maker Electronic Arts Inc (EA.O) for what they are saying was the misleading use of a digital "loot field" that "aggressively" urges players to spend more money whereas playing a popular soccer recreation.

The groups Fairplay, Center for Digital Democracy and 13 different organizations urged the Federal Trade Fee to probe the EA sport "FIFA: Final Workforce".

Within the sport, gamers construct a soccer workforce using avatars of real players and compete against different teams. In a letter to the FTC, the teams mentioned the game usually costs $50 to $100 but that the company pushed push gamers to spend extra.

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"It entices gamers to buy packs in search of special gamers," stated the letter sent by these groups along with the Shopper Federation of America and Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Well being and others.

The packs, or loot bins, are packages of digital content material typically purchased with actual cash that give the purchaser a possible advantage in a recreation. They can be bought with digital forex, which can obscure how much is spent, they stated.

"The chances of opening a coveted card, comparable to a Player of the Year, are miniscule unless a gamer spends hundreds of dollars on points or plays for 1000's of hours to earn coins," the groups said in the letter.

Digital Arts stated in a press release on Thursday that of the game's hundreds of thousands of players, 78% haven't made an in-game purchase.

"Spending is at all times non-obligatory," a company spokesperson stated in an email statement. "We encourage the usage of parental controls, together with spend controls, which might be accessible for each main gaming platform, together with EA's personal platforms."

The spokesperson also stated the company created a dashboard so players would observe how much time they performed, what number of packs they opened and what purchases had been made.

The FTC, which works after companies engaged in deceptive conduct, held a workshop on loot bins in 2019. In a "employees perspective" which adopted, the agency noted that video game microtransactions have develop into a multibillion-dollar market.

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

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.