Gaming | June 25, 2009 | 10 comments

Square Enix Sued For $5 Million

source: http://kotaku.com/5302333/square-enix-sued-for-5-million

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Square Enix of America is being sued for allegedly deceiving 100,000 customers for "unfair business practices, false advertising and unjust enrichment" regarding online title Final Fantasy XI.

The plaintiff, San Francisco resident Esther Leong, claims that Square Enix "lied about or concealed its monthly fees, penalties for late payments, interest, restrictions and other things that should have been fully disclosed at points of purchase" — basically, Square Enix has been "deceptive".

The court filing reads:

The deceptive advertising, unfair and undisclosed business practices, and concealment concern, among others:

i. Licensing of the online games software disguised as a sale;
ii. Monthly fees ("fees") to play the online games;
iii. Penalties for late payment of the fees;
iv. Interest charges for late payment of the fees;
v. Charges while the online game account is suspended;
vi. Termination of the right to use the online games for late payment of the fees;
vii. User restrictions and conditions related to the online games;
viii. Termination of game data for payment of the fees.

The class action lawsuit is seeking in excess of US$5 million in damages.
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10 comments // Square Enix Sued For $5 Million

  • Tygerr
  • diode
    • 0
      diode  

    • pay back whatever late fees she may have paid, which can't be more than a few grand, and be done with it. the 5mil mark is bollocks

    • 2 years ago
  • flyingkick
    • 0
      flyingkick  

    • If it's 100,000 customers who were 'deceived', why isn't it a class-action lawsuit?

      This guy's got nothing anyway. All of his complaints are disclosed in the Terms of Service agreement you have to read before you create an account. Some of them, like online fees, are even listed on the box...

    • 2 years ago
  • munzik
    • 0
      munzik  

    • I dont understand the big ass dolla amounts people are suing for and getting.

      $5 million in damages from a video game.
      how does that even damage some1?

    • 2 years ago
  • KefKef
    • 0
      KefKef  

    • I am lossing faith in how smart gamers are. We get the idiots who are boycotting Left 4 Dead 2 and Halo: ODST and now this.

      i. This game is based off of what the first couple of Final Fantasy were, class and job system doing quest.

      ii. For Xbox Live, you do not need a Gold membership to play. Thats why they wanted you to pay to them. And he did.

      iii. Everyone who is in buisness does this.

      iv. Again, everybody does this.

      v. You broke the rules, you have to pay the price. Plus, you agreed to it whenever you sign up for this or something like WoW, Xbox Live, or PSN.

      vi. Again, you "read" the agreement between you and company. They are not your mom or friend.

      vii. Again, these are so you can't create a name like "XxXIH8JEWSGOHITLERXxX" and can't post anything hatefull. Now granted I haven't play XI to know what is restricted, but these are guidlines to most online gaming use.

      viii. You are not a paying customer anymore. They can do whatever they want with your character.

      People are idiots.

    • 2 years ago
  • TentativeChaos
    • 0
      TentativeChaos  
    • KefKef:

      i. So..?

      ii. Yes he gave them money, so why are they being suck assholes?

      iii. That doesn't make it ok

      iv. That still doesn't make it ok

      v. The most they should do is suspend your account. Plus, nobody can realistically be expected to read the entire TOS much less understand it.

      vi. Again, nobody can be expected to read multi-page TOS written in unintelligible lawyer-speak.

      vii. You don't know, I don't know, whatever.

      viii. Sure, but no other MMORPGs I know of do this, and since you paid for all your character progress, they shouldn't just wipe it if you miss a payment.

      KefKef is an idiot.

    • 2 years ago
  • KefKef
    • 0
      KefKef  
    • KefKef:

      i. From what I understand, she is saying that they promise this was a Final Fantasy MMO and now she saids its not.

      ii. WTF? They tell you when you put the disc in that you need a subcription to play.

      iii. Its the rules. And she agreed to make the payments on time. Every company does it so they make any of their payments on time.

      iv. Again same thing.

      v. If you happen to be such an ass online that you get banned for a month or two, you brought it to yourself.

      vi. Video games companies aren't the only ones who do this. Landlords, banks, ect. Its called : being responsible. And this lawsuite brings the reason why they have the contract, so if any unhappy fan tries to sues them, they can bring it out and say "Esther has agreed to all of our rules and signed the contract, just like the other 100,000 players that we don't have a problem with."

      vii. Your right. I'll ask around for more about this.

      viii. I doubt its just one payment. I bet its a lot of late payments and being an ass online that makes them go "we had enough with you." No less, they are focusing all attention to Final Fantasy XIV thats coming next year. Its a good chance that they are clearing up space by deleting old accounts that hasn't been active for awhile.

      In the end, this is an angry fan thats angry about Final Fantasy XIV Online with no word whats going to happen to their FFXI characters.

    • 2 years ago
  • SupaDawg
  • Panzer_Tanzler
  • twitterbot
    • 0
      twitterbot  

    • @videogametweets on twitter says "Square Enix Sued For $5 Million [Final Fantasy XI] : Square Enix of America is being sued for allegedly deceivin.."

    • 2 years ago
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