Dynamic Difficulty Lawsuit Dropped Against EA

If you recall — and I’d be a little surprised if you did — way back in November of last year, a pair of brothers in California decided to sue EA, claiming that their Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment technology has been used to manipulate people into buying more loot boxes in games like FIFA, since apparently, the technology would allow EA to make games harder for people who don’t spend money in-game, and easier for people who do.

Well, the other day, it was announced that the brothers were dropping the lawsuit — after talking to an EA engineer who explained to them exactly how the Dynamic Difficult Adjustment tech worked. In a statement:

“Ensuring play is fair is critical to all of us at EA, and we’ve tried to be as clear as possible that this commitment applies to us just as much as it does to our players. We’ve publicly said before that we do not use any scripting or “Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment” (DDA) or anything similar that would automatically adjust the difficulty of gameplay in FIFA, Madden and NHL Ultimate Team matches.

Our clear statements were recently challenged in a lawsuit that alleged we did, in fact, use DDA in Ultimate Team modes. We’re pleased to share that the plaintiffs have now dismissed their case. 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.

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.”

So while EA does have DDA technology, the fact that they haven’t used it means there’s no ground for a lawsuit. Which is… the end of that, really.

Good on EA, I guess, for not being as greedy and jerky as they could be…?