The EA Sports FIFA community is in an uproar over a major scandal in which fans claim that an Electronic Arts employee sold the much sought-after FIFA Ultimate Team cards directly to players for exorbitant sums of money.
EA said on Wednesday that it is investigating the reports.
Earlier that day, Twitter exploded with the hashtag #EAGate, as fans shared message screenshots from someone who claims to work for EA. In the messages, a seller offers powerful FIFA Ultimate Team units called Icons and Prime Icon Moments, asking for up to € 1,700 ($ 2,035) for groups of certain cards. If the buyer agrees, the seller promises that he will add the special units to the player’s account the following Monday.
FIFA Ultimate Team typically runs on a lottery-based system, with cashiers offering virtual cards that players can assemble to form the ultimate FIFA team. The more powerful the player’s card, the rarer it is. Dedicated fans can spend hundreds of dollars on these loot boxes for a chance at a good card to help lead their team.
But the cards this mysterious seller is offering are much better than most players can expect to find at random – EA does not reveal the likelihood of buying a specific type of card if it is below 1%, and the cards on sale are extremely rare. Players who take advantage of this offer would theoretically be able to beat almost any other team, even if their opponent had already been lucky in some great cards from their loot boxes.
Fans are understandably upset that other FIFA Ultimate Team players may have cheated by paying an EA employee to add units to their account. EA announced on Wednesday that it is investigating the allegations and said it “will take quick action” if it finds any “misconduct”. The company also said it is aware that this situation creates balance concerns for players, and that it will update the community at a later date.
Asked to comment, an EA representative told Polygon that he had nothing to add other than Wednesday’s tweet from the EA Sports FIFA account.