Court rules that FIFA Ultimate Team packs are ‘illegal gambling’

A COURT in Austria has ruled that Sony owes one FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) player a refund for his purchases.

This is because the ruling states that opening FUT packs constitutes gambling, which requires a specific licence.

EA Sports

Promotions lead players to spend big money for the best cards.[/caption]

EA Sports and FIFA have been at the centre of a number of lawsuits in Europe regarding FUT for years.

It is often argued that FUT packs and other loot boxes constitute a form of gambling which is illegal in many countries.

Both the Netherlands and Belgium have already put restrictions on loot boxes in games including FIFA.

However, in this case it is Sony that was the target of the lawsuit, instead of developer and publisher EA Sports.

This is because the FUT packs were purchased through the PlayStation Store.

While the decision can still be appealed by Sony, the 17-year-old is fighting to get a refund for his FUT pack purchases of €338.26 (£300).

The court ruled in the teenager’s favour as the content of a FUT pack is based on chance and can potentially be resold on an external market for profit.

One company Padronus financed this lawsuit and is working on class-action lawsuits against loot boxes.

As translated by GLHF, it stated that “a four-digit number of FIFA users” had already contacted the company. 

The consumers’ claims are worth €800 (£700) on average, with the highest being €85,000 (£75,000).

Richard Eibl, the Managing Director of Padronus, said: “The ruling is a wake-up call for the entire video game industry.

“Audio-visual enticement elements such as fireworks effects are used to trigger a dopamine output in predominantly male youths. 

“It was only through discussions with our customers that we realised how enormously addictive the FIFA packs are and how pathological the buying behaviour of some of the players is.”

Lawyer Michael Linhard who won this case said: “This ruling points the way forward for dealing with loot boxes and shows that video games are not a lawless space.”

Written by Georgina Young and translated by Marco Wutz on behalf of GLHF.