The EA Sports franchise, FIFA 23, has been benched. One of the most profitable video game series has had a run-in with Austrian justice and FUT packs are in question…
Who hasn’t heard of the game FIFA? It attracts a lot of players, football fans or not. The game allows you to play different modes such as Friendly Match, Career and the most popular FUT (Football Ultimate Team) mode nowadays. In the mode you compose your team with which you will face other teams in the Division Rivals mode to reach the best division (10 divisions and an elite mode). Special feature of this mode, you can buy player packs, more commonly known as FUT packs. You have players whose stats fluctuate based on their current form. Much like the transfer window itself, the stronger the player, the more expensive they are. In a way, you are the coach and manager of your club. While playing this game mode in FIFA, a 17-year-old Austrian filed a complaint against Sony in August 2020. Indeed, he complained that the platform encouraged him to buy a FUT package and that he had spent the modest sum of €300 in FIFA points.
FIFA 23: FUT mode a game of chance?
You should know that in Austria, only two state companies have the right to offer games of chance (lottery, scratch cards, etc.). And if it surprises you, it is from this angle that the lawyer of the young Austrian presented his accusation against Sony, the platform where he made the purchase:
“(…) because the loot is created by the developers who offer it exclusively in the games, the prices violate the laws of fair trade, because there can be no competition” mentions Ulrich Salburg, an Austrian lawyer
You should know that when you buy a FUT pack, you do not know the capacity. This makes the mention of chance valid, hence the request made to the Austrian court. The consequence would be that the game’s publisher, Electronics Arts, may need to obtain a license to offer the FUT mode in Austria. Note, however, that the Sony platform reimbursed the young Austrian €338.26.
FUT packs are almost the essence of Ultimate Team mode
However, it is not only in Austria that complaints have been filed. Recently, both in the Netherlands and in the United Kingdom, the same questions had to be decided. However, we see that in Belgium, for example, packages are simply prohibited for players. In France, for the moment, it can be purchased without worries, even if several lawyers have already taken it to court.