Just three days ago, the class action suit against Square Enix, Leong vs. Square Enix was thrown out of court. Apparently, it was “dismissed with prejudice.” For those of you who aren’t really into law jargon, a dismissal with prejudice essentially means that the court believes that the prosecution either brought the suit in bad faith or fails to prosecute in time.
The plaintiffs were Final Fantasy XI players who accused Square Enix for not disclosing explicitly that Final Fantasy XI accounts and all characters tied to the accounts would be deleted after three months of not paying subscription, with knowledge that players could not return their copy after purchase. Essentially, the plaintiffs complained that Square Enix was strong arming players into paying to retrieve their character accounts.
Really though, the practice sounds fair enough. Final Fantasy XI is a subscription-based MMO. Why would you have access to your characters and your accounts if you didn’t pay subscription?
The District Court (confirmed by the Ninth Circuit) ruled in Square Enix’s favor, citing that Square Enix’s click-through terms of agreements were fair and legal, and that Square Enix owned all character content during gameplay.
“We are very pleased with the Court’s ruling,” stated Steve Ross, Deputy General Counsel of Square Enix, Inc. “We feel vindicated since many of the allegations were patently false. We only wish plaintiffs had contacted our dedicated customer support for assistance before resorting to a lawsuit. Square Enix will defend itself against baseless litigation.”
Really, the defendants seemed to charge in without really thinking of anything else. It doesn’t hurt to call up customer support sometimes. Not to mention, I never expect to keep my character data in a paying MMO if I’m not paying subscription anymore.
