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Lawsuit alleging FIFA ‘dynamic difficulty’ shenanigans has been droppedApparently the plaintiffs got to speak with EA engineers
Apparently the plaintiffs got to speak with EA engineers
Last year, a lawsuit put a commonFIFAfan theory into legal action. Three people sued EA for allegedly using a technology called ‘Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment’ to make good teams underperform in Ultimate Team mode, leading to players buying more loot boxes so they can build better teams. EA have always denied that. Well, now that lawsuit has been dropped, apparently after speaking with EA engineers about how the game works.
The class-action suit accused EA of violating California’s False Advertising Law and Unfair Competition Law, among others. It claimed that their “undisclosed use” of DDA in Ultimate Team (and its counterparts in EA’s NHL and NFL games) deprived people of the benefits of their purchases, because the game would supposedly make them underperform, and that it also pushed players to buy more packs to improve their teams. EA called the claims “baseless” at the time. Four months later, the lawsuit has been dropped.
“We’re pleased to share that the plaintiffs have now dismissed their case,” EA said inyesterday’s announcement. “We provided them with detailed technical information and access to speak with our engineers, all of which confirmed (again) that there is no DDA or scripting in Ultimate Team modes. This is the right result.”
FUT 21 | Official TrailerWatch on YouTube
FUT 21 | Official Trailer
They reiterated: “While EA does own a patent for DDA technology, that technology never was in FIFA, Madden or NHL, and never will be. We would not use DDA technology to give players an advantage or disadvantage in online multiplayer modes in any of our games and we absolutely do not have it in FIFA, Madden or NHL.”
Now, this isn’t proof that the plaintiffs came to believe they were wrong. Lawsuits can also be dropped because it’s wildly expensive to fight a megacorp. But also, welp, sheesh.
