EA is investigating whether an employee (or someone related to the FIFA team at EA) has been selling rare cards from the FIFA 21 Ultimate Team in exchange for real money on the black market.
This week reports came through social media showing screenshots of an exchange conversation between an alleged EA employee and a FIFA 21 player trying to buy FUT cards. In the text, the seller even offered him letters for $ 1,000 or more.
Normally, the legitimate way to get hold of these cards involves an exchange between players or buying random packs, being quite unusual to get these cards. They are the icons and the “of the year”, and they are not rare only because of the player who appears in them, but because of their attributes, one of the best in the game.
This situation has been dubbed “EA Gate” on social media. You can take a look at @FutArcade’s tweet below:
A special thanks to @RiberaRibell for the picture , he did an amazing work (continue in the comments)#fut #fifa pic.twitter.com/bJIg2rpWtI
– Arcade-Fut (@FutArcade) March 10, 2021
It is not clear how these transactions began, but according to the chat captures, a person was looking for rare cards and only had to give their PSN and EA account; in addition to the agreed amount. When asked by the buyer if there is a risk of being banned, the seller tells him that there is no such risk, but that he cannot tell anything for security reasons.
The alleged vendor appears to offer a number of items, including 3 icon cards for 750 euros or 3 icons and two Team of the Year cards for 1000 euros.
In a statement posted on EA and FIFA’s official Twitter account, the company reports that they are aware of the allegations and have launched an investigation.
“An investigation is already underway, and if we identify misconduct, we will retaliate,” EA said. “We want to be clear: this type of behavior is unacceptable and we do not support what has happened here.”
– EA SPORTS FIFA (@EASPORTSFIFA) March 10, 2021
We have asked EA but his answer has been the same as the Twitter statement.
