GamesIndustry.biz reports today that the Higher Regional Court of Vienna has ruled in favor of Electronic Arts on the subject of FIFA Ultimate Team Packs being gambling or not.
According to the judge, players do not purchase FIFA Ultimate Team packs intending to make a profit but only to use them in the game. As such, according to Australian law, the lack of economic risk means they cannot be considered gambling. Moreover, FUT packs cannot be considered separately from the game itself, which is not a game of chance but a game of skill.
Needless to say, Electronic Arts was very happy with the outcome and is calling the ruling 'direction setting' in a statement:
This is a direction-setting decision from the Higher Regional Court of Vienna and follows similar first instance decisions from other Austrian courts in recent months. We design our games to bring choice, fairness, value, and fun, and we are pleased with the court’s findings that FIFA Ultimate Team packs are not gambling and that players generally do not acquire them to make a profit but simply as part of the game. EA continues to believe that optional in-game purchases, when done right, play an important role in giving players a choice in how they want to engage with a game. This ruling rightly recognizes that spending is always optional, and most players choose not to spend at all.
It's a big win for the publisher, which was recently forced to disclose the actual drop rate of lootboxes in Respawn's popular free-to-play Battle Royale game Apex Legends to comply with a new law in South Korea. As expected, it turned out to be very low - just 0.045%, to be precise. However, there's a safeguard in place to ensure a drop after opening 500 Apex Packs without any luck.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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