Just when you thought EA and FIFA couldn't get worse... #EAgate

[killamch89]

I've made this joke about EA probably selling stuff on the black market but this is not what we meant by listening to your fans. At this point, I'm not even surprised by anything EA does - it's always scummy and classless. What do you guys think of this latest ordeal?

 

Moderator Edit: Merged topics as they are basically about the same thing. 

Edited March 16, 2021 by Shagger
Topic Merge

[Shagger]

We all know EA's FIFA franchise is a rabid dog, but the sheer, money grubbing greed attributed with FIFA's "Suprise Mechanics" is just the board room with the regular employees most likely embarrassed buy the actions of their superiors, right? Well, for at least for one employee, apparently not.

 

It appears someone has been selling the rarest legends cards, cards that are almost impossible to to obtain through the game's loot boxes, to individual players for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars at a time. There has been a black market for trade of cards in exchange for real money going on for a while, but this is the first time an employee of EA has had alleged involvement.  Full story from Eurogamer.

 

I know this isn't directly EA's fault, except it totally is because they created the bullshit system that opened the door for this to happen. It's their fault that people were willing to engage in what is basically insider trading (MASSIVELY illegal anywhere else) because even paying $1,000+ as a direct purchase for a card is still significantly less than the cost of all the loot boxes one would have to purchase to get these cards the legitimate way. Fuck EA, they're not the victims. Yes, this is the work of an employee(s), who deserves everything coming to them if they're caught, but this also another reason why these lookboxes shouldn't exist. 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Shagger

[m76]

I fully blame EA. If you put gambling in your game, don't be surprised when it attracts low life behaviour.

Of course the insiders doing this are selfish scum, but the only victim is EA themselves, so I guess this is at least karma, too bad it doesn't make a dent in their revenue.

I wish they banned lootboxes in games entirely not just restrict them to adult only games. That's a start but in the long run it will not make a difference.

[skyfire]

One word : greedy. I think if you ask users to buy game, then add upsell with microtransactions and top it with some subscription of some seasonal skins and game. and lootboxes and still its not enough. 

[The Blackangel]

Are these physical cards like something a kid would buy at Walmart, or are they digital cards like what you would collect playing FF8 in regards to Triple Triad? I'm confused here. If they're physical cards, then I can see how this is a problem. If they're digital, then it scares me that anyone would be stupid enough to pay that much for a screenshot of something that means nothing. To clarify, I'm not saying the game or player means nothing. I'm saying the screenshot means nothing.

Edited March 14, 2021 by The Blackangel

[Shagger]

28 minutes ago, The Blackangel said:

Are these physical cards like something a kid would buy at Walmart, or are they digital cards like what you would collect playing FF8 in regards to Triple Triad? I'm confused here. If they're physical cards, then I can see how this is a problem. If they're digital, then it scares me that anyone would be stupid enough to pay that much for a screenshot of something that means nothing. To clarify, I'm not saying the game or player means nothing. I'm saying the screenshot means nothing.

 

These cards are a digital good and represent players that you use to create your Ultimate Team that you play with in FIFA online. The higher the stats on the card, the better the player. Cards increce in rarity the higher they rank and thus the advantage they offer also increases. So obviously, the very rarest cards hold significant value to people who play FIFA.

[skyfire]

Kind of like they created the ecosystem where their own people can game it and make the money too. So it seems like pretty bad direction that is going on so far. 

[Shagger]

EA has released an update on the situation, and it's a complete joke. They keep blaming the perpetrators of this black market, that has been created from within their own company, for "upsetting the game balance" and making it "unfair" and "frustrating" for players. No EA, it's the egregious, pay-to-win nature of FIFA Ultimate Team that does all that. All this black market offers is another way to buy these cards that's better than buying your loot boxes. Yes, it is still shady, wrong and obviously against the rules, but EA needs to take responsibility and accept the blame for creating a situation whare paying $2000 directly for a FUT card is better that trying one's luck with their slot machine. YongYea breaks down the statement in more detail if you care to watch the vid. 

 

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Shagger

[killamch89]

5 hours ago, Shagger said:

EA has released an update on the situation, and it's a complete joke. They keep blaming the perpetrators of this black market, that has been created from within tier own company, for "upsetting the game balance" and making it "unfair" and "frustrating" for players. No EA, it's the egregious, pay-to-win nature of FIFA Ultimate Team that does all that. All this black market offers is another way to buy these cards that's better than buying your loot boxes. Yes, it is still shady, wrong and obviously against the rules, but EA needs to take responsibility and accept the blame for creating a situation whare paying $2000 directly for a FUT card is better that trying one's luck with their slot machine. YongYea breaks down the statement in more detail if you care to watch the vid. 

EA's statement sounded like this "Unless we're the ones ripping you off directly, it's not allowed and we won't stand for because it's unfair!". EA sure knows how to make us laugh.

[The Blackangel]

GAMERS: "EA you're a bunch of hypocritical bastards!"

EA: "I never said do what I do, I said do what I say."

[killamch89]

2 hours ago, The Blackangel said:

GAMERS: "EA you're a bunch of hypocritical bastards!"

EA: "I never said do what I do, I said do what I say."

translation: If I'm not the one ripping you off - it's illegal. Call the authorities and arrest these scumbags - how dare they try to rip off gamers using our underhanded methods and make so much profit from it? The audacity!

[skyfire]

Anything digital can't be antique as it can be upgraded and replaced software wise. They want to turn magic cards type antique game but on digital grounds and push It I suppose. But whether it would work or not depends on who throws the wallet. 

[Empire]

EA Employee exploiting EA's own gambling mechanics? What an ironic time we are living in. I really can't blame those employee trying to make some side cash while EA has layed off Hundreds of people in the past couple of years. When your Only goal is to make profit and don't think about your workers, you get what you deserve. I remember seeing this stuff going on in Everquest, gamedevs just selling stuff to players on the black market. Anything massively multiplayer has this going on.

[The Blackangel]

I don't know about the developers of WoW, but I know players were building characters up to like level 80, gearing them up with the best weapons and armor available, maxing out their abilities, and then selling them for hundreds and sometimes thousands on sites like eBay. I think Blizzard cracked down on that though in some way. Not sure. I tried WoW one time for a few months, and it was so boring and slow moving game wise, that I just called Blizzard and had them shut down my account so I didn't continue to get charged for something I didn't even want. This was when people were drooling over the wait for the Cataclysm expansion to come out for it though, so it's been a while. The only expansion I ever bought, was Wrath Of The Lich King, as it was the most recent one at that time.

Edited March 18, 2021 by The Blackangel

[killamch89]

On 3/18/2021 at 7:23 AM, Empire said:

EA Employee exploiting EA's own gambling mechanics? What an ironic time we are living in. I really can't blame those employee trying to make some side cash while EA has layed off Hundreds of people in the past couple of years. When your Only goal is to make profit and don't think about your workers, you get what you deserve. I remember seeing this stuff going on in Everquest, gamedevs just selling stuff to players on the black market. Anything massively multiplayer has this going on.

I remember when they Everquest thing was revealed a few years back - what I don't get is why spend so much money on a gaming item. I mean their are far better ways to put your money to good use - even on the black market.