EA Sports Makes Players of Its New Football Game, FC 24, Angry by Introducing Loot Boxes

The contentious cash cow for EA Sports, which pulls in hundreds of millions of dollars annually, is Ultimate Team (known as FUT in FIFA). For those unaware, Ultimate Team provides you the ability to assemble your own team from both current and former players, personalizing your “Club“ and “Stadium“ along the way with a plethora of customization options in the newly released FC 24 game.

Yet, by introducing loot boxes a few days after the game’s launch, the publisher made players angry…

FIFA users are accustomed to EA Sports releasing pricey and potent card packs later in the annualized football game’s year-long lifespan. However, with the release of FC 24, which was on September 29, the player base has reacted in disbelief to a $30 pack that was made accessible for purchase even prior to the gameplay had begun.

The Elite Season Opener Pack, which is now on sale in the marketplace, costs either 3,000 FC Points (the premium currency) or 285,000 Ultimate Team coins (the in-game money). The cost of 3,000 FC Points is around $30. FC 24 doesn’t allow you to purchase 3,000 FC Points in exactly one bundle, in keeping with how video games are monetized. Because of how strong this Elite Season Opener Pack is, some players are already accusing FC 24 of being a pay-to-win game.

The Elite Season Opener Pack includes:

• 45 Rare Gold players that are rated at least 80,
• 1 of 2 Player Pick Loan Base Heroes with a rating of at least 87,
• 1 of 2 Player Pick Loan Base Heroes with a rating of at least 88.

It’s important to note that the cards in this pack can’t be traded, which prevents owners from reselling them on the FC 24 transfer market. However, it’s a bundle that potentially gives the purchaser a strong team at FC 24’s release, which, as we should recall, is a $70 video game for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Nintendo Switch (and $60 on PC).

And here are probabilities since the beginning of October when loot boxes saw the light of the day – minimum probability of getting one or more players of the OVR range or described category in this pack:

• Gold 75+ player 100%,
• Gold 82+ player 100%,
• Gold 90+ player 5.6%,
• UCL Road to the Knockouts Player 10%,
• UWCL Road to the Knockouts Player 1.8%,
• UEL Road to the Knockouts Player 5.9%,
• UECL Road to the Knockouts Player 4.7%.

What Precisely Has Caused Such Stir?

Why’s there such a fuss about the Elite Season Opener Pack? Not only is it one of the most costly retail packs in Ultimate Team history, but it was also accessible before FC 24’s scheduled release. FIFA aficionados can’t recall EA Sports ever releasing a bundle this pricey so early.

Even while these loot boxes give purchasers a greater chance of obtaining one of the finest cards available in Ultimate Team right now, the likelihood that you won’t is still high. Depending on how many cards you currently have in your club, you may get 45 players with ratings in the low 80s or a lot of duplicates.

Some FIFA fans believe that this pack, which was released so early in FC 24’s development, represents the continuance of EA Sports’ approach of focusing material on shop packs rather than goals like Squad Building Challenges.

GamesIndustry.biz notes that in the UK, which has a sizable fanbase for both real football and FIFA video games, sales of FC 24’s physical version are 30% lower than those of FIFA 23. Even if the difference may be somewhat offset by digital sales, it appears that EA Sports’ decision to transition from FIFA to FC has already had an early effect. Maybe the Elite Season Opener Pack sales may lessen the impact.

Reasons Lying Behind EA Sports’ Decision to Start Selling Loot Boxes

For quite some time, EA Sports has been under fire for Ultimate Team, which has been criticized by players for allowing pay-to-win in competitive modes as well as by children’s organizations and researchers for its connection to gambling similar to old-fashioned gambling provided by betting platforms having no deposit bonuses.

EA Sports has until this point maintained its stance, saying that users adore Ultimate Team bundles and associating the opportunity to purchase them with in-game or premium cash with player preference.

Despite research showing that players who purchase loot boxes are more likely to experience gambling, mental health, financial, and problem gaming-related problems, certain European governments, including the UK, refrained from taking action on loot boxes last year. Instead, the government declared that it wouldn’t amend the Gambling Act since it doesn’t view loot boxes as being the same as gambling. In Belgium and the Netherlands, loot boxes are forbidden. In the latter country, they are only permitted under very tight conditions.

End of Partnership Between FIFA and EA Sports

In July, the long-standing partnership between FIFA and EA Sports came to an end after 30 fruitful years. There were two main alleged causes for the separation between the two entities.

FIFA sought a significant payment for renewing this arrangement, with sources estimating it to be over $1 billion over four years as they grew more cognizant of the worth of their brand and intellectual property rights. The other reason was that EA believed that the FIFA license was prohibitive to its creative flexibility, too expensive, and didn’t add enough value. A certain number of other irreconcilable views were expressed throughout the negotiations, and as a result, EA decided to sever ties with FIFA. Now that EA has released EA Sports FC 24, FIFA will be attempting to create a new game with FIFA 25.

FIFPro has a license that allows EA to utilize genuine player names and likenesses in their games. In 2021, EA Sports and FIFPro will extend their contract. Thousands of player image rights and likenesses are protected and represented by FIFPro, a distinct non-profit organization from FIFA. EA Sports’ licenses are entirely distinct from the FIFA license since they need them to uphold agreements with certain clubs and leagues in order to be authorized to represent them. Your favorite teams, like Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich, and Paris Saint-Germain, among others, are included in the game with full uniforms, badges, and stadiums.