EA has confirmed that it is investigating allegations from the FIFA community that some of its employees have been selling Ultimate Team items to players for real money.
Screenshots appearing to show some of FIFA Ultimate Team’s most expensive and sought after items being sold and traded for real money began to circulate on Twitter yesterday (March 10). In them, Icon Moments Cards and two Team of the Year cards were being offered – supposedly by an EA employee – for €1,700 (that’s just over $2,000).
EA has now released a statement on the matter, saying that it is “aware of the allegations” and that a “thorough investigation is underway.” However, it does avoid any mention of its own employees potentially being involved. EA also promises “swift action” if it finds any wrongdoing, and says it understands “how this creates concern about unfair balance in the game.”
— EA SPORTS FIFA (@EASPORTSFIFA) March 10, 2021
Account selling in Ultimate Team, while against terms of service, has been often used by players in the community, whereby they pay to gain access to another player’s account that is loaded with high-rated items.
This evidence, however, alleges that individual items are going up for sale and being wired directly to people’s existing accounts. Due to the presence of one-off, 99-rated pro player cards that are gifted to pro footballers to use in FIFA, there does appear to be the technology available to EA to manually send specific items to individual accounts.
More proof. pic.twitter.com/jwobuizCNc
— Matt (@MattFUTTrading) March 10, 2021
The allegations have once again ignited anger in the community around Ultimate Team’s lootbox mechanics and the population of desirable cards (such as Icon Moments) on the Transfer Market.