On November 16, a complaint against the software company from Canada was said to have been received in California, USA. Three soccer simulation fans and players have allegedly discovered that Electronic Arts uses various in-game algorithms to influence games.
The complaint states that EA will unlawfully urge FIFA players to purchase FIFA Points in order to purchase or open loot boxes in Ultimate Team mode.
The main charge relates to the use of texts such as “dynamic difficulty modification” and “difficulty adjustment.” These programs aim to influence results in-game and lead to greater participation (= real cash investment) in FIFA.
Sports 1 He requested comment from Electronic Arts, and has yet to receive any comment.
Is it all stale coffee? Patent from 2018
Already in the last year, when the existence of the aforementioned mechanisms – dynamic difficulty adjustment and difficulty of adjustment – became known, the claim erupted in the community that Electronic Arts would use them to influence the gaming experience.
On a forum since 2019, the company has defended itself accordingly. Here EA writes that the company has seen and heard players’ problems and concerns about the “dynamic level of difficulty”, but in return can confirm that these mechanisms are not used in EA SPORTS FIFA.
According to EA, these software are said to have been developed for testing purposes only, without being used at all – at least in relation to FIFA.
Is the momentum debate raging again?
As TimKalation writes in his last column, when something goes wrong, some players quickly get the impression that EA is playing an agreed-upon game. Regardless of whether the patch notes are not communicated in detail or whether the behavior of entire groups of players has been improved, weakened, or changed fundamentally through the update. In general, this is actually a common practice in multiplayer games.
For years, the company has been criticized for hiding a so-called momentum program in the title’s source code. This is supposed to be a system that interferes with the game in order to create “momentum” in favor of an inferior or superior in competitive matches – among other things, the balls jump significantly more often or only collide with aluminum.
Electronic Arts, which faces such accusations at regular intervals, remains steadfast and claims that the “momentum program” does not exist. Other applications affecting the game, such as Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment and Adaptive Difficulty, are consistently denied use.
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