A new class is believed to be kicking-off imminently stateside with numerous employees taking on their employer en masse concerning over-time practice. A leaked memo allegedly from within the publisher states that EA deny charges that they wrongly classified numerous staff so as not to pay due over-time, and the publisher invites other employees to join the action with prejudice if they feel they are due financial recompense for over-time worked.

This new lawsuit comes at a difficult time for EA whose 'sweatshop' approach to games has been highlighted anecdotally on numerous occasions of late, in blogs which reveal the ridiculous hours and intense pressure behind top projects. Of course, EA are not the only firm to be criticised for working their developers hard - though as the biggest and richest publisher in the world their corporate image is more important than most and we imagine they can't be enjoying this negative scrutiny of their working practices. We'll keep you posted on any action forthcoming, as well as further debates about working conditions arising.

By Luke Guttridge