Teams urge U.S. to probe ‘loot field’ on Digital Arts video game

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - Shopper advocates on Thursday urged U.S. regulators to investigate video game maker Digital Arts Inc (EA.O) for what they are saying was the deceptive use of a digital "loot field" that "aggressively" urges gamers to spend extra money while enjoying a preferred soccer sport.

The teams Fairplay, Heart for Digital Democracy and 13 other organizations urged the Federal Trade Fee to probe the EA recreation "FIFA: Ultimate Group".

Within the sport, players build a soccer staff utilizing avatars of real players and compete against other groups. In a letter to the FTC, the groups said the game usually costs $50 to $100 but that the corporate pushed push gamers to spend extra.

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"It entices gamers to purchase packs in quest of special gamers," stated the letter despatched by these teams together with the Consumer Federation of America and Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health and others.

The packs, or loot boxes, are packages of digital content sometimes purchased with real cash that give the purchaser a potential benefit in a game. They are often bought with digital forex, which might obscure how much is spent, they said.

"The possibilities of opening a coveted card, such as a Player of the 12 months, are miniscule except a gamer spends hundreds of dollars on points or performs for thousands of hours to earn coins," the teams mentioned in the letter.

Digital Arts said in a press release on Thursday that of the game's millions of gamers, 78% have not made an in-game purchase.

"Spending is all the time optional," a company spokesperson stated in an electronic mail assertion. "We encourage using parental controls, including spend controls, that are obtainable for each major gaming platform, including EA's own platforms."

The spokesperson also mentioned the corporate created a dashboard so players would track how much time they performed, how many packs they opened and what purchases were made.

The FTC, which fits after companies engaged in deceptive behavior, held a workshop on loot packing containers in 2019. In a "staff perspective" which adopted, the company noted that video game microtransactions have grow to be 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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