EA told Mirror Football that FUT players “can obtain all items in the game without ever spending money”, amid the ongoing ‘Black Market’ investigation.
Following the statement released by EA in the early hours of Saturday morning, in which the company confirmed that it had launched an investigation into the ‘Black Market’ allegations, Mirror Football addressed a number of questions to EA regarding specific details on the investigation and other topics regarding the Ultimate Team game mode, which have been fully answered.
In addition to disclosing details about the ongoing investigation, EA also commented on possible changes to the Ultimate Team game mode, which are considered unavailable items that are highly rated, and whether they are aware of the perceived uneven playing field within FIFA Esports.
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The FIFA 21 ‘Black Market’ allegations surfaced last week when screenshots spread on social media to show that highly coveted and highly acclaimed FUT Icon Moments and FUT 21 cards for the team of the year were allegedly offered to players be in exchange for real money.
Following these allegations, EA investigated the EA accounts used by someone within EA, and whether they were used to give high-value FUT items to individual accounts that did not earn through the game. not. The allegations on social media are referred to as the ‘Black Market’ or ‘Icon Gate’.
Following the release of the statement, Mirror Football submitted a number of questions to EA regarding specific details of the investigation. EA fully responded to Mirror Football’s questions with some exclusive comments, which can be seen in full below.
When was the first time you were made aware of the alleged transactions?
(Image: EA SPORTS FIFA)
“Earlier this week, we were made aware by FIFA community of suspicious activity related to highly regarded content in FUT,” an EA spokesman told Mirror Football.
What steps are taken to identify the full story of what is happening?
“We have launched a rigorous internal investigation.
What is the latest regarding the ongoing investigation?
“Our initial investigation shows dubious activities involving a very small number of accounts and articles. While not a large number, this activity is unacceptable if these allegations are proven.
Will EA provide full transparency to the community regarding the results of the investigation?
“We appreciate and appreciate the commitment and support of the FIFA community to identify this issue and have provided a transparent update on our initial findings via our Pitch Notes on 12. de March.
“We will continue to provide updates to our community as we have more details.
Is it even technically possible to manually add Icon Moments items to player accounts? And if so, why is it possible?
“There are some scenarios in which we assign content that was not earned or obtained through the game. Details about the award can be found in the Pitch Notes.
‘The sum of items granted by these three scenarios together is less than 0.0006% of the total player items in the FIFA 21 ecosystem.
“These grants do not affect the chances that any player in the ecosystem will acquire these players. It does not affect the total amount of content available, and all content granted is non-negotiable.
Can you find out how much of a particular player item is distributed across the game, for example Player Icon Moments?
(Image: EA SPORTS FIFA)
“Yes, we can detect this level of information.
What will you do to prevent this from happening again?
‘We have suspended all discretionary content allocations for an indefinite period and will provide further information on the next steps once the investigation has been completed.
Will EA encourage this episode to consider Ultimate Team as a game mode as a whole, to see how it can be improved in FIFA 22 and beyond?
Can the distribution of extremely rare game items be improved, for example, so that more players get the chance to get rare items that are currently considered unavailable by many people?
“We are always reviewing feedback from our player community and taking steps to improve and develop the game.
Some FIFA professional players have said they will have to spend several thousand pounds when the latest FIFA game title is released, to be competitive during the qualifiers and in the run-up to big events at the start of a competitive cycle. some’s view creates an unequal playing field for the professional community.
Since official FIFA Esports events allow access to a wide range of FUT items for all competing players, the qualifying rounds are not, so it can benefit those who have better teams by spending more money.
Are you aware of this? And are you looking at ways in which the professional FIFA scene can be a more equal playing field for all contestants in future games?
“FIFA Ultimate Team is a versatile skill game. It’s important to note that you can get all items in the game without ever spending money, and purchases are completely optional.
” Every professional competitive player must demonstrate the skills of the meta-game to be competent enough to compete at an Elite level, which includes trading, economic monitoring, group rotation and completing challenges.
“While the goal is to win matches, FUT is not just about simulation football in the stadium, just as football is not just about performance on match day – there are many areas where players need to be better than their peers around. create advantage on the field.
“Progress is a prerequisite if you intend to be a professional player in any sport and eSports does not differ.”
EA released a statement on this issue in the early hours of Saturday, March 13, confirming that they have launched a thorough investigation, which also confirms their suspicion about what exactly is happening.
“Earlier this week, we were made aware of suspicious activity regarding highly regarded content in FIFA Ultimate Team,”Read the statement on the EA website.
“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, either improperly used by someone within EA, are directly entitled to 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 it. 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.”
EA also confirmed that they have suspended all discretionary content allocations for an indefinite period.
* FIFA 21 is now available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. The next generation version of FIFA 21 is also now available on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PlayStation 5.
Fans jumping to FIFA 21 can also take advantage of Dual Entitlement, which enables them to upgrade their copy of the game from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5 or Xbox One to Xbox Series X / S at no extra cost.
To upgrade your current version of FIFA 21 to the next generation version of FIFA 21 (along with the current version) on your PS5, Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S, you need to sign in to your next generation console with the linked platform account your Xbox One or PS4 copy of FIFA 21, and then you have access to next-generation FIFA 21 through your game library.