Austrian court declares FIFA Ultimate Team packs as “illegal gambling”
Court classifies FIFA Ultimate Team packs “gambling games that require a license”
According to Games Wirtschaft a Austrian court from the district of Hermagor has classified EA’s FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) packs as “illegal gambling”. FIFA Ultimate Team packs and other loot box style game systems have been controversial for years now, but it has taken years for the courts of many nations to act on the issue.
This Austrian case was brought forward by Salburg Rechtsanwalts GmbH, a Viennese law firm. The firm claimed that the ability to spend money on randomised FIFA Ultimate Team packs violated Austrian gambling laws and aimed to hold Sony liable. Oddly, the suit targeted Sony, the company behind PlayStation, and not EA, the company behind FIFA and their game’s FUT system.
Michael Linhard from Salburg Rechtsanwalts GmbH, stated that The judgment points the way for dealing with Lootboxes and shows that video games are not a legal vacuum.”
According to reports from Padronas, a litigation financing company that specialises in gambling loss recovery, a four-diget number of FIFA users have contacted the company, and that they on average have claims of €800. One extreme case has a claim for $85,000.
Neither EA or Sony has responded to the judgement of Austria’s courts, though it is likely that this ruling will be appealed.
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