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

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - Consumer advocates on Thursday urged U.S. regulators to research online game maker Digital Arts Inc (EA.O) for what they say was the misleading use of a digital "loot field" that "aggressively" urges gamers to spend extra money while taking part in a well-liked soccer game.

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

Within the recreation, players build a soccer staff using avatars of real gamers and compete towards different groups. In a letter to the FTC, the groups said the sport often costs $50 to $100 but that the company pushed push players to spend more.

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"It entices gamers to purchase packs in quest of particular players," mentioned the letter despatched by these teams along with the Consumer Federation of America and Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Well being and others.

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

"The chances of opening a coveted card, akin to a Player of the Yr, are miniscule unless a gamer spends thousands of dollars on points or performs for hundreds of hours to earn coins," the groups mentioned in the letter.

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

"Spending is all the time optionally available," a company spokesperson stated in an email statement. "We encourage using parental controls, including spend controls, which can be out there for each main gaming platform, including EA's own platforms."

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

The FTC, which fits after companies engaged in misleading behavior, held a workshop on loot bins in 2019. In a "employees perspective" which followed, the company noted that video game microtransactions have become a multibillion-dollar market.

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

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