An anti-gambling lawsuit naming Sony surfaced in an Austrian court in August 2020. A 17-year-old Austrian player at the time declared war on Sony, hired a lawyer, and claimed that Sony had permitted him to gamble on the PlayStation platform.
Many cases with similar allegations surfaced at the same time. A year later, it was claimed that Austrian law, The Austrian Gambling Act of 1989, made loot boxes, including FIFA packs, unlawful there.
And now that the lawsuit has reached its climax, an Austrian court has ruled that Sony must pay a fine and that FIFA’s Ultimate Team bundles are unlawful.
A young Austrian man believed he had been duped into gambling on the popular game in 2021 after he wasted $300 on FIFA points to unlock FUT packs. He also concluded that the platform provider had broken the law. A lawyer retained to represent the gamer, who was at the time 17 years old, provided evidence to support this claim.
He proclaimed:
The prizes violate fair commerce regulations because there can never be any competition. After all, video game loot boxes are made by the creators who only offer them in the games.
Here is when the discussion got going, and the first requests for Sony to compensate “victimized” gamers were made.
Although Electronic Arts developed FIFA, the “buy contracts in the PlayStation store were completed with Sony,” the Austrian court that heard the case last October determined that Sony would face the weight of the intended punishment.
Is the Austrian Court’s case concluded?
The assertion that “up to €85,000” had been wagered on FIFA FUT points was made in one case mentioned in the wave of cases that appeared in the Austrian court, according to a memo obtained by Eurogamer.net.
But according to research, only the initial claimant—a person who was 17 at the time—will get a refund from Sony, which will cost the tech giant about €338.26.
According to one platform, the Austrian court also ordered that all FIFA packs be governed “like a game of chance,” which suggests that EA may need to obtain a gambling license to sell FUT in Austria.
But this is just the most recent in many discussions about loot boxes. According to recent rulings from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, loot boxes are not gambling. However, more is needed for other countries. Some countries have made significant efforts to outlaw such techniques in business transactions.
But it’s not all smooth sailing. Many years ago, Belgium famously outlawed loot boxes, but research has found that the nation’s legislators aren’t upholding that rule.
The foundation of the multiplayer-focused portion of the game will continue to be FIFA’s Ultimate Team platform for the time being. Yet, there have been changes. This month, FIFA 23 will feature the NWSL.
Should loot boxes be a persistent, difficult problem, or should they be ignored?
