EA Accused Of Running ‘Unlicensed, Illegal Gaming System’

EA Accused Of Running ‘Unlicensed, Illegal Gaming System’

A pair of Canadians have filed a class action lawsuit against Electronic Arts, alleging that the company’s use of loot boxes violates the country’s Criminal Code.

As The Patch Notes report, the civil action has been instigated by Mark Sutherland, who bought some stuff in Madden, and Shawn Moore, who did likewise in NHL. The suit seeks “damages for unjust enrichment arising from defendants’ operation of an illegal gambling system through the sale of so-called ‘loot boxes’ in popular video games.”

The “illegal” part comes from their belief that loot boxes, which can be bought without knowing what’s inside them, constitute gambling, and that EA doesn’t have the appropriate licence to offer that in Canada.

The suit covers not only Madden and NHL but a ton of other EA titles as well, ranging from mobile games to series like FIFA, Battlefield, Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

The case is awaiting EA’s response, but The Patch Notes — a legal blog — point out that unlike a lot of class action lawsuits, which can be hastily put together and as much about publicity as anything else, “this is not a self-represented litigant filing a nuisance lawsuit, but a well-pleaded claim brought by an experienced legal team who specialises in going after large corporations for stuff like this.”


The Cheapest NBN 1000 Plans

Looking to bump up your internet connection and save a few bucks? Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Kotaku, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


24 responses to “EA Accused Of Running ‘Unlicensed, Illegal Gaming System’”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *