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EA faces Canadian class action lawsuit over loot boxes

Publisher facing legal action over its implementation of the business model

EA faces Canadian class action lawsuit over loot boxes

US video games publishing giant Electronic Arts is being sued in Canada.

That's according to Business in Vancouver's Who's Getting Sued sectionas spotted by ThePatchNotes.com – which says that a class action lawsuit has been filed against EA in the country over its implementation of loot boxes in its popular FIFA football series, as well as its Madden NFL, NHL, NBA Live, UFC, Plants vs Zombies, Mass Effect, Need for Speed series, Apex Legends and a range of mobile titles. The suit was filed with the court on September 30th.

The class – represented by lawyers Mark Sutherland and Shawn Moore – is claiming that EA is operating an unlicensed gambling business by offering loot boxes in its games. The suit also takes issue with the fact that the publisher doesn't release the odds of winning prizes in titles like FIFA.

This isn't the only class action that EA is facing. In August, a suit was filed in California over the loot boxes in FIFA Ultimate team.

For the full story head over to PCGamesInsider.biz.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.