The decision was approved by the court of The Hague on Thursday, following a lengthy legal battle between the Gaming Authority and EA.
The independent body ruled in 2018 that FIFA’s Ultimate Team Packs mechanic was in violation of its Gambling Act, and suggested the weekly fine (up to a maximum of €10 million), which was then challenged by EA in court.
A weekly €250,000 fine will be charged against both EA and its Swiss subsidiary, which is responsible for the sale of FIFA, for a total of €500,000 a week.
According to NU.nl, the FIFA publisher had argued that the content of its FUT packs only had value within the game itself, as they could not be converted into money.
However, the judge dismissed EA’s objections on Thursday and ordered that if the company wants to avoid the weekly fine, it would need to disable loot boxes within three weeks.
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The loot box mechanic has faced mainstream criticism in recent years amid comparisons to gambling.
Some European countries have already classified loot boxes as gambling, while all three console platform holders have introduced policies that require games made for their consoles to disclose loot box odds.
Loot boxes have also attracted the attention of the UK’s House of Lords. In September 2019, a report from the UK’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee advised the UK government to regulate loot boxes under gambling law and ban them from sale to children.
There is currently no legal consensus in the US on whether loot boxes constitute gambling. However, games ratings board the ESRB has begun flagging games that contain random in-game purchases such as loot boxes or gacha mechanics.
