EA defends FIFA 21 Ultimate Team ‘true price’ after widespread criticism

Bill Cooney

EA Sports has come out to defend the prices in FIFA’s Ultimate Team game mode after a viral tweet challenging them sparked discussion in the community.

Criticism of prices in FIFA’s Ultimate Team game mode are nothing new, but now after a viral thread from Twitch streamer ScudTV claimed it would take millions of FUT Coins to build the ‘perfect’ team, EA has actually responded.

Speaking in an exclusive with Mirror Football, one EA spokesperson defended the company’s practices, saying “While we respect the effort and creativity to map out possible paths to greatness, we challenge the premise of these theories.”

FIFA 21 all icons
The exorbitant cost for ICON cards is what many players point to when criticizing Ultimate Team’s prices.

They then went on to tell the Mirror that they felt that there were quite a few assumptions made in Scud’s calculations they didn’t agree with.

“For example, you can’t accurately calculate how many coins you would earn from trading as that would depend on your skill as a trader,” the company stated.  “There are also other aspects of the game that contribute to building your club such as SBCs, Objectives and Draft, which have to be accounted for as well.”

FIFA Ultimate Team, and football in general, are first and foremost skill-based games EA continued on, no matter the level of the players on your individual team, they asserted.

“FIFA is a game of skill. The skill of the player is the greatest factor in the outcome of matches — a strong player can be successful whether their team is bronze, silver, gold, or a mix of all three,” EA’s spokesperson said.

“You don’t need the highest-rated players in the game to win. In the real world, no club has the world’s highest-rated players in each of the 11 positions.”

FIFA 21 ICON Prime Moments
Basically, you aren’t expected to easily field a team filled with Pele and Ronaldinho-level players in Ultimate Team, according to EA.

How to invest in a team, EA claimed, is a choice that’s left up to the individual player, just as clubs are run in the real world, and if players wanted to play “against the best” they can simply load up a regular online match.

“Some teams build through investment, and that’s a choice for owners, front offices, and managers in real-world sports, just as it’s a choice in EA SPORTS FIFA,” the company stated.

“If the premise here is that players want the best players on their team so they can compete online and play against the best, they can do that in FIFA for no investment — you can play as Liverpool or Man City or PSG whenever you like.”

Folks in the FIFA community didn’t take long to respond, and it was clear they also didn’t exactly see eye to eye with EA on this.

“You’re responses to The Mirror are embarrassing, you have basically spat at everyone in this community with your responses. How are these acceptable answers to questions the community’s had for years?” EA gamechanger Karasuno Mav asked in a video response to the news.

“You’ve turned around to us and said we can use silver, bronze, and gold players to achieve a win. OK, so show me a pro player that’s going to use a single bronze player in the next tournament.”

Related Topics

About The Author

Bill is a former writer at Dexerto based in Iowa, who covered esports, gaming and online entertainment for more than two years. With the US team, Bill covered Overwatch, CSGO, Influencer culture, and everything in between.