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

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - Shopper advocates on Thursday urged U.S. regulators to research video game maker Electronic Arts Inc (EA.O) for what they are saying was the misleading use of a digital "loot box" that "aggressively" urges players to spend more cash while playing a preferred soccer sport.

The groups Fairplay, Middle for Digital Democracy and 13 other organizations urged the Federal Commerce Fee to probe the EA game "FIFA: Final Staff".

In the recreation, gamers construct a soccer crew utilizing avatars of actual gamers and compete against other groups. In a letter to the FTC, the groups stated the game normally prices $50 to $100 but that the corporate pushed push players to spend more.

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"It entices gamers to purchase packs in search of special players," mentioned the letter despatched by these groups along with the Consumer Federation of America and Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health and others.

The packs, or loot packing containers, are packages of digital content sometimes bought with actual cash that give the purchaser a potential benefit in a sport. They are often bought with digital currency, which may obscure how much is spent, they said.

"The possibilities of opening a coveted card, such as a Player of the 12 months, are miniscule unless a gamer spends hundreds of dollars on points or performs for 1000's of hours to earn cash," the teams mentioned within the letter.

Electronic Arts mentioned in a press release on Thursday that of the sport's millions of players, 78% have not made an in-game purchase.

"Spending is all the time optional," a company spokesperson mentioned in an electronic mail assertion. "We encourage the use of parental controls, including spend controls, which can be obtainable for each major gaming platform, together with EA's personal platforms."

The spokesperson additionally said the corporate created a dashboard so gamers would track how much time they performed, how many packs they opened and what purchases had been made.

The FTC, which works after corporations engaged in deceptive habits, held a workshop on loot containers in 2019. In a "staff perspective" which adopted, the company famous that video game microtransactions have turn into a multibillion-dollar market.

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

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