EA Gets $11 Million Loot Box Fine Overturned

gamerant.com:

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 Team has one of the most notorious loot box methods in the gaming industry, and it led to many countries cracking down on loot boxes as 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 Authority that oversees gambling and betting deemed that loot boxes skirted the country's gambling laws and deemed them unlawful. The agency gave 8 weeks for FIFA and 3 other games to change their loot box practices or face fines. EA declined to pull their Ultimate Team packs from then FIFA 18 and 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)

Study Shows Link Between Loot Boxes and Problematic Gambling

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.» Because FIFA Ultimate Team is 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