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EA investigating allegations of employee selling FIFA Ultimate Team cardsSupposedly one super-rare player sells for $2500
Supposedly one super-rare player sells for $2500
The Ultimate Team mode inFIFAhas found itself at the heart of another conspiratorial scandal. Mere days ago, EA announced the end of a lawsuit which had alleged they were rigging matches. Now, some believe that an employee might be selling rare and valuable footballers for vast sums of real money. EA say they are investigating the allegations, and “will take swift action” if they uncover wrongdoing.
FIFA Ultimate Team, as I have explained more times in the past few months than in the rest of my life, is the mode where players build their own team from cards representing footballers. Rarer cards have better stats and perform better in the game. A mode heavy on loot boxes does not engender trust, and boy howdy players are perpetually suspicious of EA.
FUT 21 | Official TrailerWatch on YouTube
FUT 21 | Official Trailer
On Tuesday, Italian FIFA player Matteo Ribera posteda YouTube videoshowing screenshots of conversations with someone who claims to be sell ultra-rare cards, depositing them directly into people’s accounts - including cards which the game usually doesn’t allow people to trade. The prices are high, with the ‘97 Prime Icon Moments version of Ronaldo supposedly selling for $2500 (£1800). When asked if it was safe and where the cards came from, the person said “Cant tell exact how for security reasons.”
Other screens going roundshow someone claiming they have “a mate who works at EA, and he can load any player to your account”. Those mention prices like €1000 (£855) for two coveted cards. Variousvideosand screens supposedly show proof of previous successful transactions.
There’s no proof that this ‘friend of a friend who works at EA’ actually exists or does, mind. This could be a cover story for a glitch, exploit, or hack - the thinnest veneer of legimacy to deflect attention and keep a lucrative illicit business secret. Or a scam? I don’t know. But it wouldn’t be the first time someone used insider access to their own advantage.
Spaceship MMO Eve Online notably had a huge scandal after players discoveredone of the devsfixed a lottery so members of their own alliance won valuable items then suffered few consequences. And only a few months back,a Dota 2 dev had to apologiseafter using Valve tools to punish a player he’d bickered with over tactics in a match.
“A thorough investigation is underway, and if we identify improper conduct, we will take swift action,” EA said ina statementyesterday. “We want to be clear - this type of behaviour is unacceptable, and we in no way condone what is alleged to have happened here. We understand how this creates concern about unfair balance in the game and competition. We will update the community as we get more clarity on the situation.”
Kicks
The other recent FUT scandal was over the long-running (but unproven) belief that the game used technology called ‘Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment’ to make good footballers and teams play worse, which encouraged people to buy more loot boxes to improve their team. EA have denied this for years, but evidently were disbelieved enough that several players took them to court over it. Last weekEA announced the lawsuit had been droppedafter they let the plaintiffs speak with their engineers.
