There will be no penalty: Austria has changed its mind about recognizing loot boxes in FIFA 23 as a form of gambling

The GamesIndustry.biz portal reported that the American publisher and developer Electronic Arts won a decisive victory in an Austrian court in the case of recognition of loot boxes as a form of gambling.

Image source: Electronic Arts

The Higher Regional Court of Vienna considered that loot boxes in the football simulator FIFA 23 cannot be considered separately from the game itself, in which the user’s success depends on his skills, not chance.

Since a gamer buys football player packs in FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) mode not for the purpose of making a profit, but for use in the game, the kits themselves cannot be considered a form of gambling.

It’s worth noting that this is not the first time that EA has defended the rights of its loot boxes in Austria, but in the past, regional courts have found that FUT packs violate the country’s gambling laws.

«”We design our games to provide choice, fairness, value and fun, and are pleased with the court’s verdict that FUT Packs are not a form of gambling,” Electronic Arts said in a statement.

The publisher added that it considers in-game purchases optional and calls them an opportunity to give gamers a choice in how they interact with the game. Most of the audience, according to EA, does not turn to micropayments at all.

In addition to Austria, the Netherlands also refused to recognize FUT sets as a form of gambling – a decision was made by the administrative and legal department of the Dutch Council of State in March 2022.

admin

Share
Published by
admin

Recent Posts

Threads gets ‘long overdue improvements’ to search and trends

Meta✴ Platforms, the owner of the social network Threads, announced “long overdue improvements” for its…

24 minutes ago

Ubisoft spoke about the capabilities and innovations of stealth mechanics in Assassin’s Creed Shadows – new gameplay

Image source: Ubisoft Let us remind you that the events of Assassin’s Creed Shadows will…

1 hour ago

Assembly of the second NASA SLS rocket has started – in a year it will send people on a flight around the Moon

NASA announced that assembly of the second lunar rocket, SLS (Space Launch System), has begun…

1 hour ago

The creators of Black Myth: Wukong will surprise players before the end of the year – teaser from the head of Game Science

Co-founder and CEO of the Chinese studio Game Science, Feng Ji, hinted that some surprises…

3 hours ago

Nvidia stock is no longer the best performer – MicroStrategy soars 500% in a year thanks to Bitcoin

Last Wednesday, trading volume in MicroStrategy shares exceeded that of Nvidia and Tesla. The company,…

4 hours ago

Tired of waiting: sales of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl exceeded one million copies within two days of release

The post-apocalyptic open-world shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl from the developers from the GSC…

4 hours ago