The issue of how to address loot boxes in video games has become a hot-button issue. Certain countries have viewed the microtransaction practice as gambling fed to children and younger individuals and harmful to people with gambling addictions.FIFA Ultimate Teamhas one of the most notorious loot box methods in the gaming industry, and it led to manycountries cracking down on loot boxesas a whole, with some taking Electronic Arts to court and winning. That win is now being overturned in the appeals court and EA will avoid paying a $11 Million fine.
In 2018,the Netherlands Gaming Authoritythat oversees gambling and betting deemed that loot boxes skirted the country’s gambling laws and deemed them unlawful. The agency gave 8 weeks forFIFAand 3 other games to change their loot box practices or face fines. EA declined to pull their Ultimate Team packs from thenFIFA 18and went to trial. In 2020, the Court of the Hague ruled against EA, issuing a €500k per week fine to a maximum of €10 million (US$11 Million)
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The Dutch Administrative Jurisdiction Division, the highest court in the country, has now reversed the decision made by the Hague court in 2020. The high court said in their ruling that Ultimate Team Packs were “part of a wider game of skill.” BecauseFIFA Ultimate Teamis not solely about getting (through purchase or otherwise) and opening packs but rather card pack rewards functioned as an element of a larger game that “added an element of chance,” the Hague court should not have viewed it as gambling.
An EA spokesperson made a statement to Eurogamer after the case: “Today’s decision confirms our belief that no aspect of FIFA or FIFA Ultimate Team can be considered gambling under Dutch law… At Electronic Arts our approach to game design puts choice, fun, fairness, and value first. Our priority has always been to make sure that our players in the Netherlands and across the world have a positive experience.”
The reversal is the latest chapter in a long saga of curving the loot box practice that some have deemed to be predatory. Even as Electronic Arts has won its case in the Netherlands, government officials in other European countries still take issue withFIFA Ultimate Teamin particular. EA is stillbanned from selling FIFA Points in Belgium. There are still discussions in the UK about the practice where an EA representative infamously called loot boxes “surprise mechanics.” And there have also been ongoing discussions from US state and congressional representatives about the practice of selling loot boxes in video games to kids.
EA winning this case may start to roll momentum in the publisher’s favor as other countries where football (soccer) is the leading sport, eyes what the Dutch high courts have interpreted. Even as some games have implemented aseason-based microtransaction model,FIFA Ultimate Teamand other games with loot box mechanics will still be scrutinized heavily.
