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[ManaByte]

EA investigating allegations of employee selling rare FIFA Ultimate Team cards

Electronic Arts has launched a "thorough investigation" after reports of a company employee selling FIFA Ultimate Team …

www.gamesindustry.biz

Electronic Arts has launched a "thorough investigation" after reports of a company employee selling FIFA Ultimate Team cards directly to players.

Eurogamer has collected some of the claims made via Twitter, with more found via the hashtag #EAGATE. Images from various messaging apps show conversations that indicate an EA employee is selling rare Icon cards -- special cards featuring legendary players -- for hundreds if not thousands of euros.

One example shows an offer of three Prime Icon Moment cards -- ones that mark a particular game or tournament that was particularly special to the featured footballer -- and two Team of the Year cards for €1,000.

Another offers three Moments and two Team of the Years for €1,700. These cards are incredibly rare when obtained via the random player packs usually purchased in FIFA Ultimate Team.

The seller claims they have a friend at EA who can deliver the cards and only needs the buyer's PSN ID in order to be able to add them to their account. Pictures of these conversations also show buyers confirming the sale worked.

Electronic Arts has responded via a statement on Twitter and is looking into the matter.

"We are aware of the allegations currently circulating within our community related to FIFA 21 Ultimate Team items," the publisher wrote. "A thorough investigation is underway, and if we identify improper conduct, we will take swift action.

"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."

 

[Cyberpunkd]

"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.

Oh, the irony.

 

[Captain Toad]

Oh, the irony.

I think the word is hypocrisy.

 

[HarryKS]

The person(s) who did that made bank.

 

[The Hamburglar]

EA sports it’s in the box

 

[Impotaku]

"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 want players to endlessly spend that amount on a near impossible chance of getting those cards instead.

There you go EA fixed that for you lol

 

[Skifi28]

Making money by milking people for all they are worth? I can see how EA has an issue with this.

 

[dezzy8]

Damn. What dumbass pays 1k for a card which will be obsolete when the new version of the game releases?

 

[cormack12]

The person(s) who did that made bank.

Got to be honest, if you're a dev it would be extremely tempting to make quick cash. I'm not even sure whether EA would keep audits of this stuff. The amount of packs, players etc and logs would eat up massive amounts of table size in a database.

 

[AJUMP23]

If its in the game, its in the game. Even the outside corruption.

 

[jonnyp]

Who spends that much money on FIFA... ridiculous.

 

[manfestival]

Ah the ol classic ultimate team that ultimately becomes useless once the next iteration comes out the following year.

 

[Mokus]

EA employees have families to feed. They don't get any cut from those eye watering profits.

 

[Impotaku]

Ah the ol classic ultimate team that ultimately becomes useless once the next iteration comes out the following year.

Wait what? you mean those card collections don't carry over?

 

[CeeJay]

Got to be honest, if you're a dev it would be extremely tempting to make quick cash. I'm not even sure whether EA would keep audits of this stuff. The amount of packs, players etc and logs would eat up massive amounts of table size in a database.

I'm sure they will have this data when it's directly linked to drop rates. Some games hold a crazy amount of data like in Forza i can see how many cars I've overtaken, number of impacts etc.

These big companies store every bit of data they can about you. As you say, the databases must be massive.

 

[Beelzebubs]

EA are just pissed off they're not doing this themselves. I fully expect a whale shop in the next game alongside lootboxes. Hell, people would probably spend more on lootboxes if they saw a £2000 price on a player in the whale shop.

I mean if Star Citizen can get away with selling ships for thousands.....

 

[The_Mike]

"we are against it because the money went straight by our hands. It is unacceptable that we didn't get the money."