Square-Enix Facing $5 Million Final Fantasy XI Lawsuit

A San Francisco resident has filed a class-action lawsuit against Square-Enix accusing the company of deceiving customers with hidden fees and penalties in Final Fantasy XI.

Esther Leung of San Francisco has filed a class-action lawsuit against Square-Enix, alleging that the company partook in various shady business practices involved with its MMOG, Final Fantasy XI.

"[Square-Enix] engaged in various levels of deceptive advertising, unfair business practices, and fraudulent concealment with respect to the online games at the point of purchase," the suit claims.

Those various complaints mostly involve Square's allegedly deceptive terms when it came to monthly fees, penalties for late payment, interest charges on late payment, charges that took place after the suspension of an account, termination of game data for late payment, and more. According to Leung, Square "lied about or concealed" the specifics of these charges that "should have been fully disclosed" when she signed up for the game.

The suit estimates that the number of people who will take part in the class-action "will number greater than 100,000" and is seeking $5 million in damages. Have any of you Final Fantasy XI players ever had problems with late fee shenanigans, or is this person just upset her character got deleted?

Read the court filing here.

[Via Kotaku]