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ZeniMax Auto-Subscription Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: ZeniMax Media, Inc.
- What: The Elder Scrolls players accuse ZeniMax Media of locking them into subscription plans without informing them of the necessary disclosures.
- Where: California.
Gamers who play The Elder Scrolls say the game’s maker trapped them into subscriptions for downloads and extras they could not get out of, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiff Ariel Armstrong filed the class action complaint against ZeniMax Media, Inc. Tuesday in a California superior court, alleging the company engaged in an illegal auto-renewal subscription scheme, in violation of state and federal laws.
ZeniMax Media owns The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO), a “massive” multiplayer online role playing game that can be played across multiple gaming platforms like PlayStation, Xbox, and Microsoft Windows.
ZeniMax also owns the rights to the games Fallout, DOOM, RAGE, Wolfenstein, Prey, Dishonored, The Evil Within, and QUAKE.
The lawsuit says ZeniMax offers paid premium memberships to ESO Plus, an automatically-renewing subscription for exclusive access to digital goods like character outfits and in-game downloads.
The lawsuit states that when consumers sign up for the ESO Plus subscriptions, the company enrolled them in a program that “automatically renews the ESO Plus subscriptions on a recurring basis and resets in continuous automatic renewal charges to the consumers credit or debit card.”
“In doing so, the defendant fails to provide the requisite disclosures and authorizations required to be made to California consumers under California’s Automatic Renewal Law (ARL).”
The lawsuit says the ARL requires that online retailers offering auto renewing subscriptions to California consumers must obtain affirmative consent prior to the purchase and make the terms clear.
ZeniMax Violates California’s Automatic Renewal Law, New Class Action Claims
However, the company “uniformly violates each of the core requirements of the ARL” by making the terms unclear, and “makes it exceedingly difficult and unnecessarily confusing for consumers to cancel their ESO Plus subscriptions.”
Armstrong said she signed up for ESO Plus in October 2019, but wasn’t made aware of the subscription terms. She said she tried to cancel the subscription but was charged an additional recurring renewal fee of $14.99, for a total of 14 unauthorized charges amounting to $209.86.
The lawsuit seeks to represent any California resident who incurred renewal fees in connection with the ESO Plus subscription.
The plaintiff is suing for unfair competition, false advertising, violations of California consumer laws, fraud, and unjust enrichment and seeking certification of the class action, damages, interest, fees, costs, and a jury trial.
This is not the first class action lawsuit ZeniMax has faced. In 2014, a Colorado federal judge dismissed a class action lawsuit accusing ZeniMax Media Inc. and Bethesda Softworks LLC of deceptively marketing the popular video game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Do you play The Elder Scrolls? What do you think of these allegations? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiff is represented by Bursor & Fisher, P.A.
The ZeniMax Subscription Class Action Lawsuit is Ariel Amstrong et al., v. ZeniMax Media, Case No. 2:21-cv-07172, in the Superior Court of California County of Los Angeles.
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