Electronic Arts (EA) announced that it is investigating whether internal workers have profited privately from the FIFA 21 Ultimate Team mode and its loot boxes, whereby users can upgrade their teams by acquiring player cards.
FIFA 21 Ultimate Team is in the crosshairs of the gambling regulatory authorities, and now also of EA itself after the scandal known as ‘EAGate’, by which users of the sports simulation title denounce that workers of the developer sell the cards privately.
The Ultimate Team mode offers FIFA players the opportunity to create and upgrade their team of footballers by acquiring cards for real money. Players who appear on the cards using a random system and those who perform better are less likely to appear.
Already last year the Netherlands Gaming Authority denounced “the fact that footballers sometimes have a high value and that sometimes they can be traded”. This body filed an administrative order subject to a penalty of up to 5 million euros to EA for the loot boxes.
Complaints against EA Sports FIFA employees selling rare cards and custom packs have proliferated on social media. On Twitter, supposed conversations have been shared with an employee, who offers packs of players for prices ranging between 750 and a thousand euros.
K. Tovar
Source: AS
