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

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - Shopper advocates on Thursday urged U.S. regulators to investigate video game maker Electronic Arts Inc (EA.O) for what they say was the deceptive use of a digital "loot box" that "aggressively" urges gamers to spend more cash whereas taking part in a preferred soccer recreation.

The teams Fairplay, Middle for Digital Democracy and 13 other organizations urged the Federal Trade Commission to probe the EA game "FIFA: Final Group".

In the recreation, gamers build a soccer team utilizing avatars of real gamers and compete against different groups. In a letter to the FTC, the teams mentioned the sport usually costs $50 to $100 however that the company pushed push players to spend extra.

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"It entices players to buy packs in the hunt for special players," said the letter sent by these teams along with the Consumer Federation of America and Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health and others.

The packs, or loot containers, are packages of digital content material sometimes purchased with actual money that give the purchaser a possible benefit in a game. They can be bought with digital forex, which might obscure how much is spent, they said.

"The probabilities of opening a coveted card, such as a Participant of the Year, are miniscule unless a gamer spends 1000's of dollars on factors or plays for thousands of hours to earn cash," the groups stated within the letter.

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

"Spending is always optionally available," an organization spokesperson said in an electronic mail assertion. "We encourage the use of parental controls, together with spend controls, which might be accessible for every major gaming platform, together with EA's personal platforms."

The spokesperson also stated the corporate created a dashboard so gamers would track how much time they played, what number of packs they opened and what purchases have been made.

The FTC, which works after firms engaged in misleading conduct, held a workshop on loot bins in 2019. In a "workers perspective" which adopted, the company noted that online game microtransactions have change 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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