EA Just Updated Its Terms — Here's What You Need to Know
In a world where video game ownership is becoming increasingly tricky and legal hurdles are piling up, it's more important than ever to pay attention to the terms of service we agree to. With the recently updated EA App ToS, we figured we'd take a dive into what's new, what's changed, and some of the key points you should know.
Note: This article simplifies EA's Terms of Service for clarity. It's not legal advice — just a breakdown to help you understand what you're agreeing to.
Here's the breakdown of the changes, new additions, and Sections to keep in mind:
Enhanced Anti-Cheat Measures (Section 7C): EA is now using a kernel-level anti-cheat system, which activates upon launching an EA game. This gives it deep system access to detect and prevent cheating in multiplayer titles. It deactivates when the game is closed, but its elevated access has raised some concerns in the PC gaming community.
Expanded Data Collection (Section 9): EA has begun to collect more comprehensive data regarding your gameplay and behaviour. This includes gameplay statistics, system information, and chat logs, all with the intention to be used for moderation, analytics, and service improvement purposes.
Arbitration Clause for Disputes (Section 15): The agreement now includes the much-criticised arbitration clause. If you live outside of the specific exempt countries, you'll need to settle any legal disputes with EA through arbitration rather than court. Section 15 also waives your rights to participate in any class-action lawsuits against the company.
The countries that are exempt from this are Quebec, Russia, Switzerland, Mexico, the member states of the EEA, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Korea.
Clarified Account Suspension Policies (Section 8): EA has expanded its suspension and termination policies. Breaking the rules — or the law — can lead to temporary or permanent bans, and depending on severity, all your EA accounts could be terminated.
They also reserve the right to shut down any EA service with 30 days' notice, meaning a game can lose its online support, stop receiving updates, or even become unplayable on future systems.
This ties into:
- Section 2, which reminds players that you're licensing EA games — not owning them.
- Section 4, which states that EA isn't obligated to keep content, services, or entitlements available forever — or on every device.
Bottom line: You won't get a refund for content you lose access to, whether from a ban, game shutdown, or service removal.
Update to Virtual Currency Terms (Section 3): The terms now specify EA's virtual currency is non-refundable and has no monetary value outside of EA's services. This comes with an additional aspect that EA reserves the right to modify or discontinue virtual currency offerings at any time.
This is a quick overview of some of the most important and relevant information from the newest Terms of Service update that you need to agree totoenter the EA App.
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