Royal Match Game Causes Addiction, Says Class Action Suit

Janna Schudde has filed a class suit against Dream Games Teknoloji Anonim Şirket, a game developer from Turkey particularly known for its popular Royal Match mobile game.

The plaintiff who lives in Washington filed the suit in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington on August 8, claiming the game violates gambling laws in the state.

Several State Law Violations Mentioned

The proposed action class lawsuit alleged several violations of state law. Among them, is the fact that the game is designed in such a way as to encourage addiction and take it to a maximum level. 

According to Schudde, the Istanbul-based developer that raised $255 million in a round of funding in 2022 has done this through manipulation of the probability of success. 

The plaintiff also claims the mobile game that is available for both Android and iOS users and is described as “the king of puzzle games” by the 2019-founded developing studio manipulates players into buying virtual gold coins. 

This way, they can beat the current level and keep the gameplay going for longer. However, once players buy more gold coins, the game will not allow them to win unless they spend all the coins at a fast rate.

Schudde therefore alleges the game stimulates players to spend excessive amounts of money, something that has happened to her. 

In the lawsuit, she mentions that she lost more than $900 earlier in the year on the Royal Match mobile game, which she believes represents illegal gambling under state laws that define the activity as “staking or risking something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under the person’s control or influence upon an agreement or understanding that the person or someone else will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome.” 

According to the plaintiff, the game that encourages players to “break the obstacles and combine amazing power-ups to beat joyful and challenging levels” perfectly meets the state’s definition, since players wager their virtual gold coins that can be bought using real money to gain extra lives and more moves.

The lawsuit also alleges the casual tile-matching game marketed as free-to-play focused on a king restoring his castle leverages players’ psychological triggers similarly to what casinos do to stimulate players to spend excessively.

Another claim in the lawsuit is that the free-to-play description is misleading. While downloading the game is free for all players, the latter are encouraged to spend money to purchase in-app items. 

The prices for these items can reach hundreds or thousands of dollars, amounts that high-spending players referred to as “whales” in the gaming industry are willing to pay, thus generating most of the $3 billion in player spending recorded by the developer as of May 2024.

Parallels with Kater v. Churchill Downs Inc.

Schudde’s lawsuit uses the example of the Ninth Circuit’s ruling in 2018 in the Kater v. Churchill Downs Inc. case where the mobile game Big Fish Casino was found to constitute illegal gambling according to the laws of Washington. 

The new class suit draws parallels with the way the court then established that the virtual chips used in the game represented “things of value” since they helped extend players’ time in the game. 

This is something that Schudde, who is represented by Omer Salik of Carter Arnett Bennett Perez PLLC, also wants to accomplish with her lawsuit. 

She hopes she will be joined by fellow US players of the game with similar money-loss experiences interested in also suing the developer for fraud, negligence, unjust enrichment, and violating the Consumer Protection Act in Washington aimed at protecting consumers from “unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce’ are unlawful”. 

Schudde is looking to obtain certification of the class action, as well as damages, fees, costs, and a jury trial.

In similar news, last week, a class action lawsuit filed against DraftKings over “misleading” risk-free bets was dropped by the plaintiff. 
In June, a Georgia resident filed a class suit against Virtual Gaming Worlds and its subsidiary companies, claiming their marketing efforts were intentionally misleading users to think their platforms were legal and purely recreational, which was not the case, according to the plaintiff.