EA suspends all discretionary FIFA Ultimate Team content granted indefinitely amid EA Gate scandal • Eurogamer.net

EA suspends all discretionary FIFA Ultimate Team content granted indefinitely amid EA Gate scandal • Eurogamer.net

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EA suspended all discretionary content granted indefinitely amid the ongoing “EA Gate” scandal that shocked the FIFA series.

Earlier this week, Eurogamer reported on how the FIFA community discovered instant messages that an EA employee was selling popular Ultimate Team cards for thousands of pounds on the black market.

These instant messages called FUT Icon cards in packages of 750-1000 euros. In one WhatsApp message, three Prime Icon Moments cards are offered for 1700 euros.

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Icon cards are one of the most popular in FIFA Ultimate Team. It includes legendary players, such as Brazilian Ronaldo, Pele, Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane and Ruud Gullit, and is almost impossible to get through the mode’s controversial outside buses.

Even rarer is Prime Icon Moments – special versions of Icon cards that indicate one game or tournament that was special to the players.

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EA launched an investigation and provided an update overnight:

“Earlier this week, we were made aware of suspicious activity related to the highly rated content in FIFA Ultimate Team,” EA said.

“We learned that FUT items were awarded to individual accounts that they did not earn through games – ie by opening a package, by buying the transfer market, a rewards challenge (eg an SBC completion) or other involvement (e.g. watching a Twitch Broadcast).).

“It appears that one or more EA accounts, which have been compromised or inappropriately used by someone within EA, have directly authorized items on these individual accounts.

“The alleged behavior is unacceptable and we in no way approve the award or purchase of player items in exchange for money. This practice violates the game’s competitive integrity, is a violation of EA’s User Agreement and is not something “We do not tolerate. For many reasons we do not allow the trading or sale of items outside our game, including that it would create an unequal playing field for our community.”

Of course, EA grants the purchase of player items in exchange for money – via outside cupboards.

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EA insisted that the initial investigation showed dubious activity with a very small number of accounts and items, but nevertheless called the alleged activity ‘unacceptable’.

EA then promised to take action against any employee who apparently participated in this activity, to remove items granted from the FUT ecosystem and to permanently ban any player from whom he purchased them.

EA then apologized to the FIFA community: ‘Regardless of these actions, we appreciate how it affects all our players, and we apologize for the impact of these improper grants in the community.

“We also appreciate how extremely annoying and frustrating it is that this practice comes from EA. We are also angry. We know that the trust of our communities is hard earned and based on the principles of Fair Play. This illegal activity shakes the trust. We’ve also been aware since the inception of Ultimate Team that items can not be exchanged outside of our game, and that’s the key to how we protect our game from manipulation and bad actors. we will not let it go. ‘

EA discusses content allocation – something it rarely does. This is when EA Ultimate Team content gives player accounts. EA said that unless these items are issued to replace lost content, they are usually non-negotiable items, meaning they have no exchange rate value in the game, cannot be sold on the transfer market and cannot be traded with other players. can not be shared. Examples include articles used in testing and quality verification, and discretionary content provided to athletes, EA’s partners and employees.

Occasionally, the community will discover a famous footballer’s Ultimate Team because they face them online, and sometimes the footballers will use a special 99 version of themselves in the game. It is a discretionary content assigned to athletes.

“The items allocated to these partners or employees on a discretionary basis are not always negotiable and can only be used by the account to which they were originally granted,” EA insisted. “We do not use this discretionary process to assign content to professional video game influencers.”

Of course, this content can be used in Ultimate Team’s competitive, pay-to-win multiplayer against other players online – a balance issue that EA does not address in his statement.

EA said that the sum of the items granted by these three scenarios (customer experience, testing and partners) collectively is less than 0.0006 percent of the total player items in the FIFA 21 ecosystem. EA insisted that these grants do not affect the chances that any player in the ecosystem will acquire these players; it has no effect on the total amount of content available, and all content allowed is non-negotiable, without any associated coin value.

“The actions alleged in this case obviously fall far short of these legal content allocation scenarios,” EA said.

The investigation of EA is ongoing, but the company said it narrowed down how it happened and identified the accounts that received the content. Meanwhile, EA has suspended all discretionary content allocations for an indefinite period.

“Once again, we appreciate and appreciate the commitment and support of the FIFA community to identify this issue, and we will continue to provide updates as the investigation completes,” EA said.

One of the many issues with Ultimate Team highlighting the “EA Gate” scandal is the artificial scarcity of these highly sought-after items. Some of the most powerful and sought-after cards in the game – the Prime Icon Moments versions of Ronaldo, Pele, Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane and Ruud Gullit, for example – have a chance of falling below a percent from an outside box. The exact probability of getting an icon from a package is unknown, because EA does not disclose the exact percentage chances below one percent – a lack of transparency that has been criticized for some time.

EA is already facing two other lawsuits involving Ultimate Team, one in the United States alleging that the mode violates California’s legal laws, and one in Canada accusing EA of running an “unlicensed, illegal gambling system. drive their outside buses “.

Loot boxes have also been under the supervision of government authorities in recent years, especially in connection with their impact on young people. In January 2019, EA stopped selling FIFA points in Belgium after government pressure on outside boxes. The Dutch Gambling Authority has also declared outside gambling illegal because it is considered a game of chance and therefore violates the country’s gambling law. The Dutch authorities finally issued EA with a fine of up to € 10 million over outside buses in FIFA.

FIFA outcasts are not currently considered a form of gambling in the United Kingdom, although the government considers it in the context of closer. In July, the House of Lords’ gambling committee called on the government to “act immediately” to regulate them. The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport started a consultation on outdoor cabinets in September and a revision of the Gambling Act 2005 in December last year. This is due to the publication of a white paper before the end of this year.

FIFA made headlines last weekend with a Sunday Times investigation entitled “FIFA’s ugly game attracts teenagers to take risks”.

EA called FIFA outcasts ‘surprise mechanics’ and compared them to Children’s Eggs in a statement to the Sunday Times. A spokesperson told the newspaper that there is ‘no benefit to buying Ultimate Team packages rather than earning them’, and that the majority of player packages are awarded through achievements in the game. She said users could track or limit their spending through FIFA Playtime, a new tool in the game, and said access to online gaming could be curtailed by using parental controls on consoles.

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