FIFA Ultimate Team Lawsuit Dropped As EA Sports Debunks 'Scripting' Myth With New Evidence

EA Sports has staunchly defended itself in a Californian lawsuit challenge by producing evidence to debunk claims that FIFA has a secret 'scripting' mechanic in place.

FIFA players have argued on many occasions that the publisher has implemented a so-called scripting feature, meaning certain factors can be altered to impact the outcome of a match.

Those who believe that scripting exists have pointed to the 'Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment' (DDA), a line of code that can tweak the difficulty during a match.

EA Sports has continued to oppose the long-standing claims surrounding scripting in FIFA, saying in the past that "there is no 'scripting,' 'handicap' [or] 'momentum' in the franchise.

However, FIFA trio Jason Zajnoc, Danyael Williams and Pranko Lozano launched a class-action lawsuit against the publisher last November over scripting.

The Zajonc v Electronic Arts lawsuit accused the FIFA publisher of using "deceptive practices" and "false advertising" to help drive sales for its popular Ultimate Team mode.

The legal challenge also pointed towards EA Sports' other franchises like Madden and NHL and their use of Ultimate Team modes.

EA has insisted that DDA is only used to stop players from either feeling frustrated with a challenge the title presents in order to keep them playing or from becoming too bored.

The company does "own a patent for DDA technology," but it claimed that "technology never was in FIFA, Madden or NHL, and never will be."

The publisher added that it proved there was no such form of scripting or DDA use in its Ultimate Team modes across its franchises.

EA confirmed in a statement on its official website: "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."

Featured Image Credit: YouTube/EA Sports

Topics: GAMING, EA, Electronic Arts, EA Sports, FIFA 21

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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