By Wesley Guzmán, GW Law 2L
(Editor’s Note: The following appeared in My Legal Bookie, a newsletter published by Hackney Publications)
Electronic Arts, developer of the FIFA video game, faces lawsuits in France over the popular online game mode FIFA Ultimate Team. Claimants allege that the game mode integrates a form of gambling, creating an addictive product that mimics the thrills — and risks — of a casino-like experience.
The dispute centers around the popular game mode in EA’s FIFA video game entitled FIFA Ultimate Team, or FUT for short. Players of the game build their team with virtual renditions of real-life soccer players and compete online against other teams in real time. Wins and other accomplishments earn the FIFA players points, which can then be redeemed for certain in-game bonuses and additions to their virtual team.
The controversial aspect of this game mode comes in the process of building the virtual FUT team. In order for a FIFA player to use a certain professional soccer player on their FUT team, the FIFA player must have the “player card” of that certain professional footballer. Player cards must be bought in packs, mirroring the traditional real-life hobby of collecting baseball cards. But, like purchasing new baseball cards in real life, the buyer is unaware of exactly which cards (or which players) are in any given pack. The only clue is the grade of the card pack, either bronze, silver, gold, or a promotional pack that FIFA will release during certain times of the year, such as special Halloween or Christmas packs. The odds of getting the best players out of a pack are greatest in the gold and promotional packs, which are of course, the most expensive.
Card packs can be bought in one of two ways: either by redeeming points earned by playing the game, or by making direct in-game purchases of card packs. If a FIFA player spends enough time in the game, they can simply use the points they accrued to purchase a new card pack, with the hopes of unlocking new players to plug in to their team and help them win. However, if a FIFA player wants to fast-track the process, they can use real money to purchase the more expensive packs in hopes of unlocking new players. The resulting dynamic is one that looks similar to gambling, with monetary risks taken amidst the elusive promise of a game-changing payout.
Lawyers in France representing players of the game frame this risk/reward dynamic as gambling and argue that FUT should be labeled properly as a gambling game. Their clients have spent hundreds of dollars on high-end card packs, without receiving any of the possible big-name players that are advertised as being within the packs. With the addictive nature of the risk/reward dynamic taking a toll on their bank accounts, the clients have found themselves behind on rent payments, and no quality players to show for it.
While one can certainly understand this claimant’s frustration with FUT and his own string of bad luck, the case poses a much more significant question regarding the relationship between online gaming and gambling. Critics of FIFA and other video games have pointed to the problems with in-game purchases for years, citing a lack of parental controls designed to entice children into making purchases, as well as the addictive element of mystery boxes. In response to these critics, the governments of Belgium and the Netherlands have taken steps to ban what are called “loot boxes,” or the industry term for in-game purchases of mystery bonuses. If France begins adopting similar measures, it may not be long before the European Union and other national governments choose to regulate the practice as well.
In the U.S. and U.K., the lack of cash payouts has been enough to stop the designation of FUT purchases as gambling. However, the similarities between the game and gambling, particularly the availability to children, have caused alarm from many lawmakers, including in the U.S. Calls for stricter regulation come as unwelcome news for EA. The company raked in over 1 billion USD from the Ultimate Team game modes in 2018, with the vast majority of that coming from FIFA. With scrutiny over these profits mounting, EA has increased transparency by placing certain probability statistics in their card packs and maintaining that they do not view the game mode as gambling. It remains to be seen whether this will assuage lawmakers, but it may be that the similarities between FUT and casinos will be enough to force EA to adapt, or face government regulation.
