EA Won’t Have To Pay $11 Million Fine For FIFA Loot Boxes After All

A Dutch court has overturned a decision to fine EA the equivalent of $11 million

For not removing loot boxes from its FIFA games. Receives a hefty $550,000 fine for every week he continued to sell loot boxes. In FIFA Ultimate Team mode. This mode was found to be in violation of the rules of gambling. And carried a maximum fine of $11 million, after which EA challenged. The verdict appealed its case to the highest court in the Netherlands. The Dutch Supreme Court ruled that the previous withdrawal was an “undue fine”. Meaning that EA no longer has to pay the fine.

With this ruling, the current legal precedent set under Dutch gambling law is that a gaming license will only be required if the gambling elements form an independent activity similar to how a slot machine operates. According to new data found VGK loot boxes in Ultimate Team are not subject to the rules of gambling because they help shape the “broader game of skill” in Ultimate Team mode.

“Although packs cannot be opened during matches and quests,

They can be opened in the same FUT mode,” the post reads. clarification of the decision. “The fact that packs are unlocked separately from a match or in-game challenge does not make them a separate game. Because sets are not a standalone game, they are not gambling and do not require a license. Therefore, the publisher did not violate the Betting and Gaming Act and the Gambling Authority should not have fined the publisher.”

This is not the first loot box lawsuit EA has won in recent times, as a class-action lawsuit over the use of these gameplay elements in FIFA, Madden, and NHL was eventually dropped. The lawsuit alleged that EA adjusted the odds of winning Ultimate Team player packs to encourage players to buy more packs, but after the company provided a detailed overview of how its patented Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment technology works, the plaintiffs closed the case.

In other football-related news,

EA announced last week that it was removing all Russian teams from its current FIFA and NHL games in response to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The future of the title of the series is also in question, as recent reports have suggested that EA is ready to end its partnership with FIFA.