Are video game addiction lawsuits having a moment?

Advocates and parents are taking on the video game industry. There are currently eight lawsuits active in North America attempting to address video game addiction. All were filed within the last two years, and most claim that the targeted video game companies, including Activision Blizzard, Epic Games, Microsoft, Roblox, Nintendo, Take-Two Interactive Software, and Sony Interactive Entertainment, purposefully make their games addictive. a way to keep people playing, and ultimately, to get them to spend a lot of money.

“These video games were intentionally designed with the help of Ph.D. behavioral psychologists and neuroscientists to get minors and young adults to play longer and spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on the games,” said a representative from Bullock Ward Mason, an Atlanta-based law firm involved in six of the eight lawsuits. wrote on her website. “Defendants use gaming tactics such as reward systems, along with proprietary designs with addictive features and technology to keep users playing longer and spending more. Most parents don’t understand what’s happening in their own homes because their children are being manipulated and targeted by these multi-billion dollar corporations.”

There are three lawsuits in Arkansas, two in Illinois and one each in Missouri, Florida and Washington. The majority were filed by parents concerned about their children’s alleged video game addictions and how they have resulted in failure at school and elsewhere. For example, one lawsuit claims that a 13-year-old’s video game addiction has caused physical pain, obesity and “anger,” and there’s a 21-year-old who says he dropped out of high school because of video games.

Then there’s the lawsuit in Missouri, filed by a 24-year-old woman named Harper Glasscock, who said she is addicted to video games and that they have caused her “brain damage, cognitive impairment, lost jobs and unemployment, depression and depression.” causes. , anxiety, withdrawal symptoms,” among others. The games to which she is addicted, according to her lawyers, are largely published by Activision Blizzard: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, World of WarcraftAnd Overwatch. The lawsuit, like others, calls video game practices such as microtransactions, reward systems and loot boxes predatory, but also accuses video game companies of having specialized departments dedicated to building relationships with “whales” — or people who spend big money on video games — to keep them playing. Glasscock’s lawyers also rely on neurological studies to support their addiction claims.

Activision Blizzard and the other companies involved want to dismiss these lawsuits. Microsoft and Epic Games, among others, are forcing the courts to dismiss because players agree to arbitration rules, which prohibit players from taking issues to court rather than opting for arbitration hearings. Both companies have included player accounts in court documents, confirming that they clicked “accept” multiple times in the terms of service. The other arguments include freedom of speech — that video game content like loot boxes are subject to First Amendment protection — and a dismissal of product liability claims because games, attorneys say, are not products.

They also found some discrepancies in the documents; In the case of parent Casey Dunn in Arkansas, Microsoft discovered that the player was using an Xbox One, not the aforementioned Xbox Series played. Fortnitemade just days before the lawsuit was filed, first reported by reporter Stephen Totilo. (That accuser later told Epic Games that the child may have played on his estranged father’s or friends’ accounts.)

Several plaintiffs want to consolidate the lawsuits into one large, multidistrict case, with a hearing to decide whether that will happen on May 30 in Salt Lake City. Polygon has contacted Bullock Ward Mason, Activision Blizzard, Take-Two, Roblox and Epic Games for comment. We will update this story when they respond.

Attorney Stephen McArthur of The McArthur Law Firm told Polygon that consolidating the lawsuits will make things logistically simple. “Plaintiffs’ attorneys are suing dozens of video game companies in many different states, and consolidating all the cases into one court and one judge will make it much easier for them to prosecute their case against so many defendants with limited resources. at the same time,” McArthur said.

The video game companies are against the consolidation of these businesses for several reasons, including that there isn’t enough business to justify it. The companies also argue that the cases are not so broad as to simply involve “video game addiction,” and that courts should consider the personal details of each case individually, including the different diagnoses, games and types of companies involved. With a possible consolidation, prosecutors are asking for a jury trial — something McArthur said he doesn’t expect prosecutors to win.

“Defendant video game companies can and will take these lawsuits very seriously and mount a strong defense,” McArthur said. “I don’t believe the prosecutors will win the case. My suspicion is that they are trying to get a big settlement based on defense costs.”

No legal precedent has yet been set for video game addiction cases, and most previous cases against studios or publishers involving games that cause violence or addiction have been dismissed. A case, in which a man NCSoft Corp. sued over an alleged addiction to Lineage 2 in 2009, he defeated the user agreement argument when a judge partially denied the company’s dismissal request (the man could not sue for fraud, but he could sue for negligence). It was a major victory at the time, when lawsuits like this rarely progressed beyond the arguments of the signed user agreement. However, the lawsuit was settled and dismissed in 2011, but never went to a jury trial. Social media companies have faced similar addiction and personal injury lawsuits, one of which took the multi-district litigation route. That case is still ongoing, with no timeline for a trial.

Clearly, this is not a problem that will go away. There are more addiction lawsuits than ever, and Bullock Ward Mason is calling for more on his website. Whether they have merit — or whether plaintiffs will even be allowed to sue — remains to be seen.