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“There is absolutely no way it should be normalised.”
EA Sports FC 24 players are fuming at an Ultimate Team mode card pack costing around £30.
The Elite Season Opener Pack costs 285,000 coins (the in-game currency) or 3000 FC Points (premium currency) and seemingly includes such powerful cards that players are accusing EA of pay-to-win tactics.
And this is a microtransaction in a game that already costs £70.
The pack contains the following untradeable items:
- 45 Rare Gold players rated 80 or higher
- 1 of 2 Player Pick Loan Base Hero rated 87 or higher
- 1 of 2 Player Pick Loan Base Icon rated 88 or higher
In theory, this would net players with some of the best footballers to add to their Ultimate Team squad, with the game only just launching last week.
And of course, while the pack costs 3000 FC, the currency is only available in set bundles, meaning players will likely have to buy 5900 FC costing around £40, or 2800 FC (£20) plus 1600 FC (£12).
As IGN reports, while the pack offers a high chance of getting one of the best cards in Ultimate Team, the odds are that players will receive plenty of duplicates – especially if you already have plenty of cards. After all, the cards received are randomised, even if EA provides the probabilities up front.
“It’s fine, you’ll get one 85 at best, and the rest is dupes. Seriously there are so many more players this year with women but I get more dupes than ever,” said reddit user M-Colcko on a post about the pack.
In fact, many reddit users are fuming about the price of the pack.
“It’s £30, there is absolutely no way it should be normalised for people to spend that amount of money on a game which is already overpriced,” said towfoon. “In two weeks time you won’t have any interest in any of those players you pulled unless it is an absolutely insane pull.”
Said Adzzii_: “Obviously it’s a good pack but please seek therapy if you’re buying this. First week of fifa and you’re dropping £30 on an untradeable pack.”
“I bought it for the ultimate edition points. Knew it was bad value but figured I’d get something. One 85 fodder and 26 dupes all below 83 rated,” said Appearance_Deficit. “Put dupes into gold upgrades and got nothing. Essentially got a poor 100k pack for three times the price.”
EA has long been criticised for its inclusion of loot boxes in FIFA, as when Eurogamer interviewed EA’s chief experience officer Chris Bruzzo back in 2021.
The company stuck with loot boxes for FIFA 23, after the UK government decided not to legislate the monetisation system.
More recently, EA was fined in Austria as a court decided the packs were a breach of gambling laws.
EA Sports FC 24 is the second-biggest UK boxed game launch of the year, though sales are down 30 percent compared with FIFA 23. That still constitutes millions in earnings, which will only be boosted by in-game monetisation like the Elite Season Opener Pack.
