PlayStation, Xbox Gaming Addiction Lawsuit Alleges Consoles Were Designed to Hook Young Players

Mississippi man claims developers seek to maximize the time children spend on their platforms, failing to install proper safeguards to prevent gaming addiction.

An increasing number of parents and young adults nationwide have filed lawsuits in recent years, indicating that games like Minecraft, Fortnite and Roblox were intentionally designed to foster addiction, causing mental health problems in a generation of youth.

However, a complaint (PDF) brought by Kevin Rawls Jr. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi on January 27, targets two other major videogame platforms, PlayStation and Xbox.

The lawsuit states that those consoles’ manufacturers, Sony Entertainment Interactive LLC and Microsoft Corporation, respectively, took part in the same tactics as other video game designers without providing adequate parental controls. Rawls also names Epic Games Inc., the makers of Fortnite, and Mojang Studios, the creators of Minecraft, as defendants. Mojang is now a subsidiary of Microsoft.

Research has shown gaming addiction can begin as early as elementary school, and can result in stress, aggressive behavior, loss of impulse control, depression, anxiety and other behavioral concerns, especially among children. Some studies have also warned gaming disorder may affect one out of 10 adolescent boys.

Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox are among several games that have been the focus of gaming addiction lawsuits filed nationwide, indicating children suffered behavioral and mental health problems because developers designed their games to take advantage of developing minds. The complaints allege that leading video game publishers intentionally put features into their products that foster gaming addiction, particularly in multiplayer online “live service” platforms.

The lawsuits claim developers weaponize the game systems to foster gaming addiction through the promotion of “loot boxes” with random rewards, forcing long play sessions to obtain rare items which have a low percentage of ever appearing, and selling pay-to-win upgrades or cosmetic extras. They also accuse the defendants of illegally tracking children’s online activity and using the data to build algorithms that pressure them with targeted ads and in-game purchases.

These claims are separate from a growing wave of Roblox exploitation lawsuits, which allege that platform has become a hub for child sexual abuse, where predators exploit weak safety controls to make contact with young users. In many of those complaints, parents say their children were groomed and exploited through Roblox, leading to in-person assaults, sextortion, explicit image sharing and long-term psychological harm.

Rawls’ lawsuit indicates that the inappropriate targeting of children by video game designers does not stop at the games themselves, but also extends to gaming platforms, such as the PlayStation and Xbox series of consoles.

According to the complaint, Rawls was just 10 years old when he began playing video games and quickly acquired a gaming addiction that has advanced at an increasing, uncontrollable and compulsive pace. This has left him incapable of restraining his own usage, which the lawsuit indicates was an intentional action by the makers of the video games and the consoles.

Rawls states that the gaming industry has known about the risks and causes of gaming addiction for decades, as well as the potential resulting “brain damage, cognitive decline, and physical and emotional deficits.” Instead of designing their games to avoid those risks to children, his lawsuit indicates the defendants embraced them.

The games and consoles chose not to put in simple safety features, like adequate parental controls, opt-in time limits, or warnings to help limit the time one spends playing a game, the lawsuit states.

“Rather than taking necessary steps to mitigate the known risks associated with prolonged exposure to video games, Defendants intensified the problem by causing and profiting from addiction in minors and young adults.”

– Kevin Rawls Jr. v. Epic Games et al

Rawls indicates that at 10 years old he could not have entered into any contract with the games and platforms’ manufacturers, and was exploited as a result, leaving him with a gaming addiction, withdrawal symptoms, diminished social interactions and other mental health problems. He presents claims of design defect, failure to warn, negligence, intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, fraud, and seeks both compensatory and punitive damages.

Gaming Addiction Lawsuits

Despite the rising number of video game addiction lawsuits being brought nationwide, late last year the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) rejected plaintiffs’ request to create a gaming addiction MDL (multidistrict litigation), refusing to consolidate the claims before one judge for coordinated pretrial proceedings.

It marked the second time the JPML was asked to centralize these types of video game addiction lawsuits. The panel rejected a 2024 request to combine cases involving more than two dozen companies and games, arguing that the litigation was too broad and varied to necessitate coordination. The latest attempt cut that number down to just three games. However, the JPML was still not convinced that coordination would streamline the trial process.

The decision means that any video game addiction lawsuits will continue to move forward as individual claims in their respective federal court districts for the time being.

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