The Austrian Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Sony and EA, stating that lootboxes in FIFA Ultimate Team aren't gambling since enough skill is involved. While that's a big setback for the players that sued, it also gives clear reference to when lootbox modes are or aren't "skill-based".
In a years long case between Sony and EA on one side and several people who put a collected 20,000 euros into lootboxes in FIFA games, assisted by Austrian law process financier Padronus, on the other, the Supreme Court of Austria has now delivered a final ruling. Before this, the pressure lay of Sony and EA, since courts in Kempten and Vienna had ruled against the companies and in favour of the buyers and Padronus. The companies had however escalated the ruling to the highest court in Austria, which has now published its final ruling in a case file from December 2025.
It it, the Supreme Court decides that lootboxes in the FIFA games are not gambling. It does not say however that lootboxes cannot be gambling, but instead, that the evaluation cannot be divorced from the context of the game it is happening in.
The court ruled that since not only the luck of drawing good players, but also the skill of the video game players is relevant to the results of any given round of FIFA Ultimate Team, the mode does not qualify as gambling, but instead of a “mixed game” of change and skill. As such, the court ruled against gambling and thus against the players getting reimbursed for their purchases by EA and Sony.
The ruling will presumably have landmark effect on games, since most video games incorporating lootboxes have some kind of skill component. As such, most of them can be considered “mixed games” under these ruling and will not be classified as gambling. It is noteworthy however that the Austrian definition of gambling not only includes pure games of luck, but also those that are “primarily” dependent on luck, even if a bit of skill is involved. The ruling thus does not mean a definitive end to all hope of players or activists that want to move against lootboxes. While it is going to make cases like these much more difficult to build, it also at least defines a very clear frame of context in which the discussion can be led now in Austria.
You can find the full, German text of the ruling here.
