If chance can play a role, gambling is not far away. Meanwhile the criticism of the popular mode FIFA Ultimate Team is increasing.
FIFA Ultimate Team will be a case for France’s justice system. Lawyers Victor Zagury and Karim Morand-Lahouazi have filed suit against FIFA developers Electronic Arts. This was reported by the French sports newspaper L’Equipe on 1 February. The lawyers represent clients who accuse the Modus FIFA Ultimate Team, which has been in existence since 2009, of being “an illusionary and addictive system”. Currently, FIFA Ultimate Team is not labelled as a gambling game in France.
What is the criticism of FIFA Ultimate? If you randomly draw cards from packs, you will either be happy or disappointed. Players can’t escape the thrill and open the virtual packs in FIFA Ultimate Team until they finally receive a rare greeting card. However, there is no guarantee for this, even with a high stake. A comparison to gambling and potential gambling addiction is thus comprehensibly given.
600 Euro and not a good player – chances of winning are too low
Another aspect is a negative impact on the French players: The integrated chances of success for a top player are less than five percent. According to the lawyer Zagury, one of his clients spent 600 euros without receiving a world-class player. “We believe that a game of chance was built into this video game because buying packs is nothing more than a bet,” Zagury is quoted by L’Equipe.
Underage gambling is prohibited by law in France. Nevertheless, underage players have the opportunity to buy FIFA Points for real money in FIFA 20 without any restrictions and use them for packs. FIFA Points have already been banned in Belgium and the Netherlands.
A trial date for the suit has not yet been set. If the lawsuit is successful in France, FIFA Points could also be prohibited there in the future. The Loot Boxes in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive have already been banned for some time. Due to this circumstance, the developer Valve had come up with a loophole to circumvent the ban.
