Ongoing FIFA 21 FUT scandal investigation reveals 'one or more EA accounts' involved
Electronic Arts does not yet know if EA accounts were willing or compromised actors in a recent FIFA 21 Ultimate Team scandal in which rare cards were sold to players.
FIFA 21’s Ultimate Team ecosystem is still in disarray following allegations that an EA employee may have been involved in backdoor transactions in which rare Ultimate Team cards were sold directly to players. It was such disarray that Electronic Arts itself stepped up to investigate the matter. That internal investigation is still ongoing, but recently, EA confirmed that at least one company account was used in questionable transactions that may be related to the situation.
EA recently revealed its internal investigation’s initial findings in a FIFA 21 Pitch Notes blog post. According to the post, though the investigation is still ongoing, EA confirmed that it had found “one or more EA accounts” exhibiting unusual activity which it will further delve into as it works to get to the bottom of the recent FIFA 21 FUT card purchase allegations.
“The alleged behavior is unacceptable and in no way do we condone granting or purchasing player items in exchange for money,” the FIFA team wrote. “This practice runs counter to the game's competitive integrity, is a violation of EA’s User Agreement, and is not something we tolerate.”
The matter in question, dubbed “EAGate” by some of the community, involved supposed transactions in which players made contact with an entity with access to EA accounts and used said access to provide rare FIFA 21 Ultimate Team players cards such as Pele, Ronaldo, and Zinedine Zidane. These cards were placed directly on players accounts for what was shown to be exorbitant backdoor payments nearing value of $2000. EA’s Ultimate Team modes have always been a bit predatory in their design (and FIFA 21 is no different according to our review), but being able to directly purchase high-rarity cards threatens to throw the whole ecosystem out of balance.
Electronic Arts’ initial findings show that there was definitely involvement via the use of an EA account. Whether this was an EA employee or an outside breach remains to be seen, but more than anything, it confirms there’s definitely something fishy going on behind the scenes in regards to FIFA 21 Ultimate Team. Stay tuned as we continue to follow this story for further updates and information.
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replyTJ Denzer posted a new article, Ongoing FIFA 21 FUT scandal investigation reveals 'one or more EA accounts' involved
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This must happen more than we realize right? Reminds me of the Eve Online dev cheating fiasco.
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