Giant video game publisher EA is facing a lawsuit after it failed to deliver on a promise related to the recently released Battlefield 3.
The promise was that anyone who purchased the game for PS3 would receive a PS3 version of the classic Battlefield 1943 game. It was supposed to be a way to encourage sales of the game on Sony’s platform.
However, when the game was released last month, Battlefield 1943 was nowhere to be found. Well, it turns out that for whatever reason, EA was not able to get that extra goodie packed into the game in time.
Understandably, that didn’t sit well with gamers who bought the game hoping to delve into the vintage game on their PS3.
In a Twitter message that was only posted because a gamer had to ask about the glaring omission, EA said, “In lieu of 1943 being available on disk for PS3 customers, EA has made all BF3 expansions available early to PS3 customers.”
But the decision to make those expansions available to PS3 users first was announced in September, and at that time there was no mention that this would be in place of the Battlefield 1943 bonus.
EA heralded Battlefield 3 as the fastest-selling title yet in the first-person shooter series. So there’s a potentially humongous group of people who bought the game with the hopes of playing Battlefield 1943.
EA is now being sued, not because it had to change its plans, but because it didn’t communicated those changes to consumers until it was too late.
Law firm Edelson McGuire is seeking class-action status for the lawsuit. In its complaint, the firm says EA “misled and profited from thousands of their customers by making a promise that they could not, and never intended, to keep.”
EA has not responded to the lawsuit at this time. This will certainly be an interesting case to watch.
