EA confirmed the recent allegations of FIFA Ultimate Team cards being sold to players by an EA Games employee.
The investigation conducted by EA’s management proved that some players got access to highly rare FUT cards via illicit ways from an EA employee. The developer is still trying to identify the accounts which have received the cards and promised to permanently ban any accounts identified to have received cards.
“Earlier this week, we were made aware of suspicious activity relating to highly rated content in FIFA Ultimate Team.” Explains the developer on an update. “It appears that one or more EA accounts, which were either compromised or being used inappropriately by someone within EA, directly entitled items to these individual accounts.”
Our initial investigation shows questionable activity involving a very small number of accounts and items. Although it is not a large number, if these allegations prove out, this activity is unacceptable. We want to thank our committed community members for bringing the issue to our attention so quickly.
EA affirms that the illicit practice goes against the FUT ecosystem, the update shares the frustration of the EA Games team who states that they do not condone granting or purchasing player items in exchange for money. EA affirms that FUT encourages competitive integrity, and they will never allow the trade or sale of items outside as it would create an unequal playing field for the players.
Regardless of these actions, we appreciate how concerning this is to all of our players, and we apologize for the impact of these improper grants within the community. We also appreciate how extremely annoying and frustrating it is that this practice might have come from within EA.
We’re angry too. We know that the trust of our communities is hard-earned, and is based on principles of Fair Play. This illicit activity shakes that trust. We’ve also been clear since the creation of Ultimate Team that items cannot be exchanged outside our game, and that’s key to how we keep our game safe from manipulation and bad actors. This is a breach of that principle, as well — and we won’t let it stand.
Source: EA
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