Electronic Arts nerfed the players that can be earned as rewards in the Ultimate Team mode of its former FIFA-licensed soccer game, and the public didn’t like it.

In EA Sports FC’s 24 Weekend League, certain players can be acquired in a special version. Last week during the Ligue 1 Team of the Season, Kylian Mbappe, arguably the best soccer player in the game, appeared in a “limited” edition. Those who started playing the league early on Friday found that this week’s rewards were much better than usual. Electronic Arts usually never publishes the odds of getting certain players (Mbappe and Dembele for example), but these footballers showed up a lot.

This was picked up by streamers and they started informing the public about it. The rest of the players quickly jumped in to get the better rewards. EA Sports FC’s Twitter account for communications then said that they had identified an issue where the Champions Player Pick rewards were not what they had originally planned, and this was then quickly corrected so that only the early players got the better quality footballers than expected.

We have identified an issue where the Champions Player Pick rewards were providing unintended results. This has been corrected in-game.

— EA SPORTS FC Direct Communication (@EASFCDirect) May 11, 2024

But the social note, a new feature of Twitter, says below the tweet that it is an issue related to odds and there is no evidence of unwanted rewards. Mbappe and Dembele are both part of the Ligue 1 Team of the Season, so they fit the definition of rewards, and Electronic Arts has reduced the odds of getting them by forcing players to open digital card packs that require them to spend real money.

It’s time to hurt this company
byu/gypsy4343435 inEASportsFC

Many people on Reddit reacted angrily to what Electronic Arts did. And let’s not forget: this is a gamble with an expiration date. As soon as the new game comes out (a year after the previous title), the old game is abandoned, everyone jumps to the new game, and the digital cards from the old game become worthless. That’s why the Ultimate Team mode is a gamble.

Source: VGC