I'd hardly be surprised if this ends up being true. Ultimate Team loot box probabilities are so awful you're better off buying the expensive cards from the EA employee who's allegedly running their own black market than taking your chances with card packs. SURPRISE MECHANICS (MERCH): www.yongyea.com PATREON: www.patreon.com/yongyea TWITTER: twitter.com/yongyea TOP PATRONS [BIG BOSS] - callmevocal - Charlie Galvin - Devon B - Jonathan Ball - Joseph Lavoie [BOSS] - Gerardo Andrade - HaDe Game - Joe Hunt - MD archenangel - Michael Redmond - Shepard Gaming - skyrimfan14 - Time Dragonlord [LEGENDARY] - BattleBladeWar - JT Scout - Theron Webb - Yue
"it's not gambling, its *worse* than gambling, because you waste your money with no cash out reward even when you win" wow thanks that makes it sooo much better lmao
@The Moth we don't even live in a free market dude Most of these massive billion dollar companies actually lobby for regulations that they have the funds to afford while small businesses get choked out by them. Keep feeding your masters.
@@LouSassol69er All considering, his offer was cheaper than doing it through the packs, so who is the real culprit here - this guy, or EA for making a virtual casino?
@@ericx6969 which game isn't pay to win? Even for games that have 0 microtransaction it's still pay to win, you pay with time and time isn't free. If you spend 100 hours to get good at a game to win 99% of the gaming population to "win", then you lose 100 hours that you could earn at least $7.5 at federal minimum wage (before tax) if you choose to work. Meaning you lose $750 by getting good at a game. Now imagine you spend 5000 hours playing a f2p game then you lose at least $37500 USD just to get good and try to "win". Pay to win games save you the time to get good by making you spend money. You spend $750 USD to save you 100 hours to get good, depending on what game it is.
@@misakamikoto8785 slow down there gamer, you might blow a neuron with that big brain claim that every game is pay (time) to win. Fucking lol dude. You cant buy time, or trade it, and we are all wasting it at the same time. Enjoy your limited life span. That being said, you can waste a lot of money in a single day, ruining your financial life. So you will assume that one would have to work it back with time? You really think everyone is paid the exact same? You can't just generalize everyone into one situation and say this is how it happens, gamer.
@@misakamikoto8785 Which game isnt.. whagh wagh whagh wagh ect.. stop defending a broken OCD habit of pulling a crank for cash.. Time is money is not an excuse to dysfunctionally worship a machine of rigged chance as if it defines your worth and self esteem. you just described an Addict, 5000 hrs? I would know i play SCVI for 7k hours. You do know however people can multitask from home at work.. Having certain jobs and business plans and retirement plans. That does not defend some one bleeding morally, and prostituting their time just to spend some coin's only to chance wasting away in a dumpster from being bankrupt. What the hell is the difference in being robbed and having the lowest chance of actually winning NOTHING CAUSE ITS DIGITAL. Its not Bitcoin Its not a cash deposit its Fake Currency Trade
The fun part is that excuse really just makes it even worse than gambling. They figured out gambling where they are guaranteed to always win, even when you think you've won they end up with 100% of the money.
Exactly. I'll never forget how in Fifa 18 upon the addition of the world cup mode, there was a glitch which caused players to receive tons of free packs. In mere minutes, EA shut down the pack store completely to fix it. Fastest response time I have ever seen from EA, meanwhile still stalling fixing the actual game-breaking issues.
EA: "We struggle to understand why we're the bad guys" Shady EA employee: Hey it's not unethical black market deals, it's just "surprise guaranteed time savers". I'm literally the good guy here, by comparison.
Lol. Of course they struggle to understand why they are the bad guys, the level of vitriol public has towards EA has stopped making sense literally years ago. Remember when they won 'Worst company in US' award? You know who else was on that list? Walmart. You know what Walmart did that year? Had over thirty employees burn alive in one of the third world countries, because their clothing factories were not up to code. Wanna hear something even more hilarious? They weren't the only company whose business caused people to die on that list. So what else is EA supposed to do, but laugh? When public finds overpricing video games to be worse than death by negligence, you might as well throw your hands up in the air and give up.
"You can't cash out so it's not gambling" is the most hilarious thing. "Don't worry this isn't gambling because you literally never get anything worth anything you just pay us for pathetic chances at things that cost us nothing and are worth nothing."
Plus they just copy and paste the same game every year and slap a new title on it so the idiots will pay more money for the same shit they had the previous year
Correct me if i am wrong but does the definition of gambling especifies the use of money? Like if i bet my house on a roll of a dice that isn't gambling?
well they are essentially doing so through a customer service bot meant to compensate players for wrongful deletions and glitches robbing them of big money items. It really wouldn't surprise me if EA knew about this 100% and let it happen bc the inequality is the only thing that keeps people paying them for stats. Some might view this as 1000 bucks NOT in EAs pocket, I view it as incentive for 1000 different players to open up a few loot boxes bc they're tired of getting raped. This inequality if the basis for the drive to market, it's a push-win for EA, they are fostering the inequality to push the monetization and this does an even better job in doing so than their loaded system could EVER do on it's own, organically.
I know who would have ever guessed the worst game studio in the world would be greedy an evil and want to take every thing they could before they got caught truely shocking 😳 😐 🙄 😑 😒 🤔
Sadly true. And no, it's not addiction it's conditioning. If you grow up with those games and only see and know games with loot boxes and shops you don't know it better. It's like branding from big companies like Apple, Nike etc
Same with the NBA 2K fanboys. Continue to spend money on a game after you've bought it full price. Brain dead. The game expires after a year and then you're on to the next one. I could never.
“It’s just one guy at EA selling these” It’s just one guy WHO GOT CAUGHT. I’m willing to bet there are more people at EA (and other companies) doing the same or similar things.
@@tenjenk amazing how its a "lone wolf" when it's someone of particular religious or political groups, but if it happens to be a white man, then it's representative of all white people and all men.
@@Hellooooo-kq1hb u may end the year with a sick team... these people start the year with godlike teams. again, it does not matter how good ur no budget team is... the people who throw money on fut will always 1up you.
It's weird how this didn't even phase me in the slightest until I thought about it more, they're not only creating an environment where a black market is feasible, they're actively cultivating it. Of course they wouldn't want to fix their issue, it would remove their loophole.
But the thing is - it’s only a “problem” in that somebody else is making money off this. It has nothing to do with the rarity of the cards. I’m pretty sure EA couldn’t care less about the gameplay as long as THEY’RE the only ones making money off it.
You're absolutely correct. If you or I were doing this EA would be screaming for the feds. "Lock those criminals up. They're ruining the sanctity of the game!"
Video game industry only has about 8 to 10 years left guys and gals enjoy it while you can. I'd actually say all industry has only 8 to 10 years left at this rate. Due to half the millennial generation and half the zoomer generation being spoiled rotten brats with no work ethic whatsoever who expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter. They will not have the wherewithal to maintain the society and infrastructure created by the silent gen and the boomers.
@@Andronicus87 I disagree...we have 20 years possibly more. The reason I say this is Gen X is large enough to keep it going and we love our games. I'm a Gen X'er that just turned 40...so I have 20 to 25 years left of gaming at the very least. Further, while I wholeheartedly agree the millennials are disappointing do not count Gen Z out. I work with them and those kids are alright. Gen Z are nothing like the Millennials. They work hard, show respect for our country, and they don't buy into all of the PC culture nonsense the millennials do. Not only that but in academia they flat outperform millennials by a wide, wide margin. I have to go to work but if you're interested I will be available to talk more about this when I get back. What I have to say should at least give you something to hope for and it has been a very longtime coming.
@@zztzgza embezzlement is when you take money or property that was already in the possession of the company or that was given by another person thinking that they were paying the company. There’s no guarantee that these people would have purchased more packs if the option to directly purchase from the employees was not available. It’s like in Halo 3 where people would email Bungie devs and they would unlock recon armor for them. They weren’t sending the armor to them through a download. It was on their console already and just needed to be unlocked just like the FIFA cards.
I live for the day when companies like Electronic Arts recieve the comeuppance they so rightfully deserve and come crashing down into absolute financial oblivion.
Am I surprised a mega corporation who sells the same product every year with digital goods that are encased in a low odds generator with gambling mechanics would have an employee sell said digital goods by altering their rate card rates? No. Am I surprised one took this long to be caught? Yes.
I'm surprised they got caught, this helps like this is fine with the blessing of EA. Of anything I think this is an employee who got fed up and leaked the information.
I literally have a kid in our neighborhood who's been stealing from his parents and others (including my wallet, once, before I knew who was doing it) to pay for mtx. So yeah, players aren't just comfortable paying for these fuckalls, they're also comfortable committing petty crime for the same.
@@rogan4338 I quite agree. We have taken the matter up with his parents, and they are recompensating us... I tried to explain the necessity of monitoring his gaming habits since he is a juvenile, but I doubt people here are aware enough. I'm planning on talking to him to see if I can get through.
The fact that EA have a *customization* system in the "RNG" to MANUALLY alter any player rolls sounds super illegal! They could turn off the super rares for any amount of time to increase roll attempts...
That they have sliders to adapt the whole rolling system to alter odds would be a standard expectation for use during events. That they can do it for individual players is what comes across as odd.
@@Zeknif1 I see what you're getting at, but what im focusing on is a rate up should be a select character and FIXED rate increase function that is the same across ALL rate ups whenever it takes effect, their are FAR too many options setup to give chosen people like INFLUENCERS great "luck" when pulling to mislead people into thinking the rates are not that bad. EA could have a rate up from 0.5% and change it to 0.2% and we'd be none the wiser to increase pack sales given how HARD they are trying to keep the drop rates hidden, with the rates we could make calculated guess to see if the playerbase are getting the super rares at the rates they CLAIM to be at. They could even be putting number caps on how MANY super rares could be obtained on a day to day basis because if you can never get it after the "cap" is reached you will be more vulnerable to buying it through a employee. Also why isn't this system not more secure and not seem to report anyone making modifications to individual player chances???? This is WHY I think these options are *designed* for *influencers* when they do pull videos so it's NOT like EA was getting hacked since it was a *authorized* built-in feature to exploit the drop rates at a whim.
Sad thing is most Fifa players are casual gamers. They get a new playstation and only play fifa nothing else. They dont watch videos on games or look out to be aware of the harms of lootboxes. They just mindlessly spend for what they want as they dont see whats wrong.
Its just like saying "stop supporting call of duty. Same shit, different year with many microtransactions" but people still eat that shit up. It won't ever end unfortunately
@@AbysswalkerGray It's not the same in the slightest. Not backing CoD with the microtransactions but *way less* people buy stuff in CoD - and if they do, they spend way less. Whereas almost everyone who plays Ultimate team on a daily basis spends loads of money just for some *mostly computer-controlled* characters (which to top it off, should correctly resemble real football players' abilities - but they don't). It's just as bad as wasting the same amount of money in a casino... Like microtransactions shouldn't even be a thing but they are, then they shouldn't be as ridiculously expensive but they are, then they should at least give you some proper worth - but no, not even that. It's a greedy shit show and responsible for an exponentially growing lack in the quality of video games.
Right, EA is only concerned because that employee is making bank instead of them. Might as well take your money to a casino and spend any winnings on buying the desired cards directly instead of throwing it at the loot boxes. XD
Unfortunately, people feel they have to because they gameplay is incredibly unrewarding and you need the best players to win. Also, buying the player for 1k outright is a good deal in comparison to spend 50k and still probably not packing that player.
@@GiniusX10 Yeah and that's what bothers me the most, I would just play the old games instead but I guess no mp elements there if you can call it that.
@@dgas5904 The shocking part was sarcasm, it's really sad that people are cleaning their bank accounts in general but in this case for something so shitty as an EA sports game. Still have no idea how people working there can sleep at night.
Imagine spending 60 Dollars on a videogame... That's way more than enough for me. - My norms didn't grow with the inflation over the last 3 decades, so all of this is insanity to me.
Now imagine spending that money on a jpeg of a football player, only for it to be wiped out at the next iteration of the game. So your jpeg has at most a 1 year lifespan.
@@toshiroyamada2443 You do know they have been selling the same game for 3 years now at the price of full games each, right? Their servers have no business being run to begin with. Not to mention, why do we need a market saturated with online-only games? There are companies making games where mtx aren't implemented, or are cosmetic at best.
maybe but consider this-- Every single player that gets these cards is going to beat a non payer, and give them the perception that 1. it is possible to win these cards from opening loot boxes, 2. they must have some of these cards to compete. The inequality on the platform is by design and it's basically the only push to market for people opening boxes for money, I wouldn't be surprised if this is 100% known about, planned, EA complicit etc. This game's monetization is the the "super obscured pay2win" with false advertising in the mix as well via the created inequality system-Pay2Cheat2Win for players buying these cards directly. These practices act as false/obscured marketing for gambling and pay2win for the "normal players." These people probably beat 20 people in a day, EA doesn't care about that $1000 they were never going to put in crates, this is marketing. They are creating the perception, a lie, that people gain these stats legitimately. It's like a claw machine that never pays out, but there are 100s of people walking around the lobby telling you directly, the claw machine DOES pay out. Again, the inequality is the only drive to market for the pay2win, and the pay2cheat2win is great marketing for the claw machine that will never pay out, and is a show of perfect inequality on the platform. My bet is EA WAS getting a cut of the money lol.
Honestly, it feels like this story couldn't be any more poetic if they tried. The fact that this monetization system is so broken, even those within EA are abusing it to get themselves even more money. It's almost like EA has allowed this to happen and now it could suddenly blow up in their faces because someone in EA literally got too greedy. Either way, this is still an ongoing issue that needs addressing.
This is something I won't ever understand. It's a game. It's a distraction, from the harshness of life. It's supposed to make you feel good. Grind is work. You're defending doing stupid, tedious work during your free-time, to enrich multi-billions corporations. There is no advantage to this. At all. The only way I can "respect the grind" would be as an artistic statement (think of "The Longing" interrogating our relation to waiting, but with grinding), but that's never happening in a AAA game.
Thanks for covering this man. I tweeted you in hopes that you'd talk abt this. We can't let EA get away with this. It is a slap in the face for us football fans. They have a monopoly over the genre and this event highlights their attitude and lack of care for the game. If an EA employee is selling cards on the black market then it states the obvious that they purposely design the game as an addiction based gambling system. We as a community need to get together and hold them responsible.
Can you cover the insane microtransactions in Roblox games? They are literally getting kids hooked on gambling at young age, and are much worse than EA.
"EA would like to express its disappointment at the actions of an employee who sold rare Ultimate Team cards for €1000. We feel that, due to the rarity of the cards in question, they could have been priced at double or triple that, possibly even more. Sadly, this employee has acted in a way which does not reflect our company values and we will be investigating into how such a mistake could have happened." Sincerely Electronic Antichrist
Imagine being one of these real life players, knowing that your likeness is being exploited by a mug for cash who works for that gambling company (EA).
Funny how they don't care about people's feedback on how their game functions, aka being the same game with a new number stamped over the previous one. But when it comes to something interrupting their of profits, then they respond right away to resolve the issue. I hope this gets dug deep as it can go until we can all finally see the day that these "surprise mechanics" will be considered illegal in all games unless it is rated for A-Adults. Though I feel like that will take a long time to see that happen but when it does, I'll be happy and maybe then these big gaming publishers/developers will actually care about quality of games over their lines of the chart going up.
Sad thing is, you know that the EA employee is making more than his own wage by selling stolen rare cards. Despite being a rich company, their wages are shut. Either way the situation is pretty shit. Kinda like a double edged sword.
Somehow this story just reminds me of those young children that were playing FIFA and they ran their parent credit cards without permission in order to get the rare character they wanted but never got him. Just think what if kids playing FIFA heard about this person
I'd hardly be surprised if this ends up being true. Ultimate Team loot box probabilities are so awful you're better off buying the expensive cards from the EA employee who's allegedly running their own black market than taking your chances with card packs.
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"Sense of pride and accomplishment"
Its a good day!!:)
Emphasis on "pride"
That phrase will haunt them till the company dies.
That needs to be EA’s official slogan.
That should be written on every one of their ceo graves.
This employee should be made CEO, they epitomize everything that EA corporate stands for.
We are happy 'cuz EA is fucking themselves...
But if it was KONAMI we went to celebrate with pride! Hahahahah
@@v_s80 I still cant forget that mgs 3 pachinko machine.
Future EA executive, no the true EA executive.
"You can't cash out on fifa, its not real money."
Meanwhile, random EA guy:
*cashes out*
Not being able to cash out, to me just reads as confession that it's a scam.
"it's not gambling, its *worse* than gambling, because you waste your money with no cash out reward even when you win" wow thanks that makes it sooo much better lmao
@The Moth we don't even live in a free market dude
Most of these massive billion dollar companies actually lobby for regulations that they have the funds to afford while small businesses get choked out by them. Keep feeding your masters.
@@abointedtoyblingofmats free markets are mythical anyway
I quess he did that for revenge
EA: “Who taught you how to do this stuff?
Employee: “You alright!?! I learned it by watching you!”
I don't even blame the employee honesty. He's done us a service putting more pressure on EA.
@@LouSassol69er All considering, his offer was cheaper than doing it through the packs, so who is the real culprit here - this guy, or EA for making a virtual casino?
Wanna bet on whether or not EA see's any consequences for it? Odds are not good for them getting even a fine for it b/c the laws are so behind.
Brilliant comment. EA PSAs.
Now i gotta watch Cabin in the woods again...
"This employee has since been dismissed by EA and you'll never hear anything about it ever again. Now buy some FUT packs"
Until the next underpaid employee decides to go full Heisenberg and sell more cards for 1000s$ totally fixed problem!
It’s not an “illegal action”
It’s a “Surprise Transaction”
Ea sports pay to win is the way
That’s no illicit trade
That’s how it’s made
@@ericx6969 which game isn't pay to win? Even for games that have 0 microtransaction it's still pay to win, you pay with time and time isn't free. If you spend 100 hours to get good at a game to win 99% of the gaming population to "win", then you lose 100 hours that you could earn at least $7.5 at federal minimum wage (before tax) if you choose to work. Meaning you lose $750 by getting good at a game. Now imagine you spend 5000 hours playing a f2p game then you lose at least $37500 USD just to get good and try to "win". Pay to win games save you the time to get good by making you spend money. You spend $750 USD to save you 100 hours to get good, depending on what game it is.
@@misakamikoto8785 slow down there gamer, you might blow a neuron with that big brain claim that every game is pay (time) to win.
Fucking lol dude.
You cant buy time, or trade it, and we are all wasting it at the same time. Enjoy your limited life span.
That being said, you can waste a lot of money in a single day, ruining your financial life. So you will assume that one would have to work it back with time? You really think everyone is paid the exact same? You can't just generalize everyone into one situation and say this is how it happens, gamer.
@@misakamikoto8785 Which game isnt.. whagh wagh whagh wagh ect..
stop defending a broken OCD habit of pulling a crank for cash..
Time is money is not an excuse to dysfunctionally worship a machine of rigged chance as if it defines your worth and self esteem.
you just described an Addict, 5000 hrs?
I would know i play SCVI for 7k hours.
You do know however people can multitask from home at work..
Having certain jobs and business plans and retirement plans.
That does not defend some one bleeding morally, and prostituting their time just to spend some coin's only to chance wasting away in a dumpster from being bankrupt.
What the hell is the difference in being robbed and having the lowest chance of actually winning NOTHING CAUSE ITS DIGITAL.
Its not Bitcoin
Its not a cash deposit
its Fake Currency Trade
"Its not gambling cause they cant cash out, there is no real life value!"
"Then whats this shit?"
"Uh... ex employees?"
Soon to be ex-employees, not because of the illegality, because they got caught.
The fun part is that excuse really just makes it even worse than gambling.
They figured out gambling where they are guaranteed to always win, even when you think you've won they end up with 100% of the money.
Wanna bet that it'll actually be their excuse?
Right 🤣🤣
It's worse than gambling, only they win.
Unfortunately, the only thing EA will be upset about is that they aren't getting the money from these back channel deals.
That, and they could face some serious legal trouble if they don't contain this.
Lmao 😂 it’s so funny because it’s true... sadly
Yep, all EA will see here is how much people were willing to pay for each card. In every scandal there is opportunity.
Exactly. I'll never forget how in Fifa 18 upon the addition of the world cup mode, there was a glitch which caused players to receive tons of free packs.
In mere minutes, EA shut down the pack store completely to fix it. Fastest response time I have ever seen from EA, meanwhile still stalling fixing the actual game-breaking issues.
EA: "We struggle to understand why we're the bad guys"
Shady EA employee: Hey it's not unethical black market deals, it's just "surprise guaranteed time savers". I'm literally the good guy here, by comparison.
I mean lets be real, he kinda is
Lol. Of course they struggle to understand why they are the bad guys, the level of vitriol public has towards EA has stopped making sense literally years ago. Remember when they won 'Worst company in US' award? You know who else was on that list? Walmart. You know what Walmart did that year?
Had over thirty employees burn alive in one of the third world countries, because their clothing factories were not up to code. Wanna hear something even more hilarious? They weren't the only company whose business caused people to die on that list.
So what else is EA supposed to do, but laugh? When public finds overpricing video games to be worse than death by negligence, you might as well throw your hands up in the air and give up.
EA: “Our ‘surprise mechanics’ aren’t gambling, there’s no monetary value!”
EA employee: *Sells Fifa rarest cards for thousands*
EA: "Stop selling that."
EA employee: "Will you raise my underemployed ass if I do?"
EA: "hahaha! No, you are fired."
"You can't cash out so it's not gambling" is the most hilarious thing. "Don't worry this isn't gambling because you literally never get anything worth anything you just pay us for pathetic chances at things that cost us nothing and are worth nothing."
It's literally the same argument used to defend casino chips
Great take
Its not gambling if you don't call it gambling!
Plus they just copy and paste the same game every year and slap a new title on it so the idiots will pay more money for the same shit they had the previous year
Correct me if i am wrong but does the definition of gambling especifies the use of money? Like if i bet my house on a roll of a dice that isn't gambling?
the Ea seller admits "they do this every year" so this isnt a one man operation but rather a team wide racket
an EA wide racket
yes EA has been doing that for years. These employees just up the ante a bit
well they are essentially doing so through a customer service bot meant to compensate players for wrongful deletions and glitches robbing them of big money items. It really wouldn't surprise me if EA knew about this 100% and let it happen bc the inequality is the only thing that keeps people paying them for stats. Some might view this as 1000 bucks NOT in EAs pocket, I view it as incentive for 1000 different players to open up a few loot boxes bc they're tired of getting raped. This inequality if the basis for the drive to market, it's a push-win for EA, they are fostering the inequality to push the monetization and this does an even better job in doing so than their loaded system could EVER do on it's own, organically.
@@penguinjay omg youre right. People see their teams and go "hey that should be possible for me to get too" and empty theor wallets... holy shit..
@@tubetubecommentor4795 The underpaid employees are just finding creative ways to self-fund their annual bonus.😂
Another EA scandal, huh?
*Insert smiling dancing Dr. Cox here*
Dr. C O X
I actually picture him dancing with the choir he hired to get under JD's skin.
Ahhh...I just rewatched the My Lunch episode. Way to bum me out again.
I know who would have ever guessed the worst game studio in the world would be greedy an evil and want to take every thing they could before they got caught truely shocking 😳 😐 🙄 😑 😒 🤔
@@No-fu7eg well, you cant spell grEedy And evil without EA
FIFA fanboys be like : "oh no.......anyway" *starts rolling stupid loot box again
Addiction
Sadly true. And no, it's not addiction it's conditioning. If you grow up with those games and only see and know games with loot boxes and shops you don't know it better. It's like branding from big companies like Apple, Nike etc
If you have kids, do them a service and start them on OG mario, or something like it.
@@autopepithesi ok but it is also addiction too. It’s gambling. You can be addicted to gambling.
Same with the NBA 2K fanboys. Continue to spend money on a game after you've bought it full price. Brain dead. The game expires after a year and then you're on to the next one. I could never.
“It’s just one guy at EA selling these”
It’s just one guy WHO GOT CAUGHT. I’m willing to bet there are more people at EA (and other companies) doing the same or similar things.
yeah like the "lone wolf" shootings which happened every few months
@@tenjenk amazing how its a "lone wolf" when it's someone of particular religious or political groups, but if it happens to be a white man, then it's representative of all white people and all men.
@@somedude4805 are you doing the reverse thing /s of how things are? Its hard to tell anymore these days
"You can't sell digital items for thousands of dollars! That's OUR job!"
The only infraction that EA's concerned with is that these employees didn't give management their cut...
Or did they??
@@puRpInF3cTioN Ooh love a good conspiracy!
@@ThePermanentVirgin lmao
- "It was a scam ?"
- "Always has been."
When a fricking Black Market scalper offers you a better deal than EA:
It's not really shocking the company voted "The Worst Company in America" has some of the worst employees in America
And beyond!
The most stupid thing here is, hearing players wanting to contact these employees to get the packs
Well they are addicts.
Its simultaneously smarter than buying the lootboxes but dumber than not buying or supporting the game
FIFA players aren't gamers. They're a subspecies.
@@Meyna86 yeah the name for the subspecies is _H. Stupidassus_ or 'the stupids'.
@@brianjensen5661 Bakka Shinji
I'm more shocked at the people stupid enough to be paying this shit, but then again, if you're playing FIFA, money means nothing to you.
feels like it too me too, did not understand friends playing it that don't have real money
Welcome to Earth
Nah man I play fifa every year & always end the year with a pretty sick team & i never spend money on packs
It’s mind boggling.
@@Hellooooo-kq1hb u may end the year with a sick team... these people start the year with godlike teams. again, it does not matter how good ur no budget team is... the people who throw money on fut will always 1up you.
EA creates this situation themselves.
Also EA: WE'RE SHOCKED! We will totally investigate this incident! 😏
I wanna see how EA responds to this: Get ready for the “pride and accomplishment” excuse. 😂
It's weird how this didn't even phase me in the slightest until I thought about it more, they're not only creating an environment where a black market is feasible, they're actively cultivating it. Of course they wouldn't want to fix their issue, it would remove their loophole.
"A racket is therefore generally a repeated or continuous organized criminal operation or enterprise." -Wikipedia definition of racketeering.
But the thing is - it’s only a “problem” in that somebody else is making money off this. It has nothing to do with the rarity of the cards. I’m pretty sure EA couldn’t care less about the gameplay as long as THEY’RE the only ones making money off it.
You're absolutely correct. If you or I were doing this EA would be screaming for the feds. "Lock those criminals up. They're ruining the sanctity of the game!"
Video game industry only has about 8 to 10 years left guys and gals enjoy it while you can. I'd actually say all industry has only 8 to 10 years left at this rate. Due to half the millennial generation and half the zoomer generation being spoiled rotten brats with no work ethic whatsoever who expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter. They will not have the wherewithal to maintain the society and infrastructure created by the silent gen and the boomers.
@@Andronicus87
I disagree...we have 20 years possibly more. The reason I say this is Gen X is large enough to keep it going and we love our games. I'm a Gen X'er that just turned 40...so I have 20 to 25 years left of gaming at the very least. Further, while I wholeheartedly agree the millennials are disappointing do not count Gen Z out. I work with them and those kids are alright.
Gen Z are nothing like the Millennials. They work hard, show respect for our country, and they don't buy into all of the PC culture nonsense the millennials do. Not only that but in academia they flat outperform millennials by a wide, wide margin. I have to go to work but if you're interested I will be available to talk more about this when I get back. What I have to say should at least give you something to hope for and it has been a very longtime coming.
@@pR1mal.
No doubt about it.
@@Andronicus87 This is such a baseless bullshit you are speaking. I am almost impressed.
I can’t tell if this is straight up thievery, or an absolute stroke of genius.
It’s EA whose suffering so I’m having a hard time emphasizing.
It's equivalent to embezzlement in a way.
@@zztzgza embezzlement is when you take money or property that was already in the possession of the company or that was given by another person thinking that they were paying the company. There’s no guarantee that these people would have purchased more packs if the option to directly purchase from the employees was not available. It’s like in Halo 3 where people would email Bungie devs and they would unlock recon armor for them. They weren’t sending the armor to them through a download. It was on their console already and just needed to be unlocked just like the FIFA cards.
not just them selling these cards, its the fact that there shouldn't be something worth 1000 dollars item in any paid game
I live for the day when companies like Electronic Arts recieve the comeuppance they so rightfully deserve and come crashing down into absolute financial oblivion.
- EA: why you do this?
- Employee: i just did what we always do
Am I surprised a mega corporation who sells the same product every year with digital goods that are encased in a low odds generator with gambling mechanics would have an employee sell said digital goods by altering their rate card rates? No.
Am I surprised one took this long to be caught? Yes.
I'm surprised they got caught, this helps like this is fine with the blessing of EA.
Of anything I think this is an employee who got fed up and leaked the information.
EA: *gets scandals*
Literally everyone: *"That's Rad!"*
Puts a smile on Pandas face!!☺
God, I can see Kiryu right now.
Kiryu playing pachislot intensifies :(
Me: "pride and accomplishment"
In EA's eyes, this employee is stealing from them, as players will spend that amount of money to him and not to them.
An Employee of Take-Two Interactive:
“I’m going to write that down...
The fact that those *digital cards* that get outdated and darn near worthless within a year can sell for that much is just sad.
The fact that said worthlessness is a ubiquitous enough standard for players to feel comfortable *paying* that much money is even sadder.
I literally have a kid in our neighborhood who's been stealing from his parents and others (including my wallet, once, before I knew who was doing it) to pay for mtx. So yeah, players aren't just comfortable paying for these fuckalls, they're also comfortable committing petty crime for the same.
@@TG-ge1oh have you reported him? Sounds like he seriously needs help. For real.
@@rogan4338 I quite agree. We have taken the matter up with his parents, and they are recompensating us... I tried to explain the necessity of monitoring his gaming habits since he is a juvenile, but I doubt people here are aware enough. I'm planning on talking to him to see if I can get through.
Sports fans have literally nothing else to spend their money.
The fact that EA have a *customization* system in the "RNG" to MANUALLY alter any player rolls sounds super illegal!
They could turn off the super rares for any amount of time to increase roll attempts...
That they have sliders to adapt the whole rolling system to alter odds would be a standard expectation for use during events. That they can do it for individual players is what comes across as odd.
@@Zeknif1 I see what you're getting at, but what im focusing on is a rate up should be a select character and FIXED rate increase function that is the same across ALL rate ups whenever it takes effect, their are FAR too many options setup to give chosen people like INFLUENCERS great "luck" when pulling to mislead people into thinking the rates are not that bad.
EA could have a rate up from 0.5% and change it to 0.2% and we'd be none the wiser to increase pack sales given how HARD they are trying to keep the drop rates hidden, with the rates we could make calculated guess to see if the playerbase are getting the super rares at the rates they CLAIM to be at.
They could even be putting number caps on how MANY super rares could be obtained on a day to day basis because if you can never get it after the "cap" is reached you will be more vulnerable to buying it through a employee. Also why isn't this system not more secure and not seem to report anyone making modifications to individual player chances???? This is WHY I think these options are *designed* for *influencers* when they do pull videos so it's NOT like EA was getting hacked since it was a *authorized* built-in feature to exploit the drop rates at a whim.
The house always wins.
I have a bad feeling that EA is just making this as a distraction to something even worse
"EA faces scandal"
Ah, good! In other news, the Pope remains Catholic, and a bear was observed defecating in a forested area.
This is actually the "surprise mechanics" they were talking about.
That EA employee is only doing his job: *ACTUALLY* giving us a "sense of pride and accomplishment" through his transactions.
Here's the solution: dont buy fifa, dont give EA money. Problem solved.
Sad thing is most Fifa players are casual gamers. They get a new playstation and only play fifa nothing else. They dont watch videos on games or look out to be aware of the harms of lootboxes. They just mindlessly spend for what they want as they dont see whats wrong.
yeah hearing these stories I think the people who buy fifa games aren't even sports fans, they are just gambling addicts mostly lol
Its just like saying "stop supporting call of duty. Same shit, different year with many microtransactions" but people still eat that shit up. It won't ever end unfortunately
@@AbysswalkerGray It's not the same in the slightest. Not backing CoD with the microtransactions but *way less* people buy stuff in CoD - and if they do, they spend way less. Whereas almost everyone who plays Ultimate team on a daily basis spends loads of money just for some *mostly computer-controlled* characters (which to top it off, should correctly resemble real football players' abilities - but they don't).
It's just as bad as wasting the same amount of money in a casino... Like microtransactions shouldn't even be a thing but they are, then they shouldn't be as ridiculously expensive but they are, then they should at least give you some proper worth - but no, not even that. It's a greedy shit show and responsible for an exponentially growing lack in the quality of video games.
There it is.
EA getting Sued
Everybody: "Hell Yeah"☺
It's a bummer they aren't being sued twice. Once for this and the other for being EA.
[Everyone liked that]
Well, that would still be cheaper than obtaining them the "legitimate" way, I guess...
I wouldn’t put it past EA to have officially sanctioned this on the sly. That is a possible option.
"Addiction its real....Its in the game!"
EA being scummy: *Same shit. Different day.*
Ryder from GTA: "Another day, same shit"
... And in our toilet... without flushing...
CJ: Aw shit here we go again
Right, EA is only concerned because that employee is making bank instead of them. Might as well take your money to a casino and spend any winnings on buying the desired cards directly instead of throwing it at the loot boxes. XD
I wouldn't be surprised if further investigation reveals that EA is in on it in some way.
"Unfair balance in game and competition", did they actually wrote that?! DID THEY ACTUALLY PUT THAT ONLINE?!
imagine working hard for 3 months just to buy virtual football players
EA: gets in trouble again
*Everyone liked this*
So basically EA's ability to rip you off is just part of the job description.
I was here when it said Scanal. The canal which all scandals pass through.
I do Scanal on the first date. EVERYTIME.
@@robertmurphy3014 it was only one time, Dad!!! Geez!
Alternatively, it's a scandal's favorite way to fuck you over.
If a club/bar opens and little boys/girls are being sold in the basement, you shut the club/bar down. Regardless of whether the owner knew or not.
EA - "What did i teach you about doing scandals!"
The Guy - "How...you taught me how"
EA - "i also taught you not to get caught!"
Truly shocking. Also, imagine paying 1k euro for a card in fifa of all things...
And it last only for a year
Unfortunately, people feel they have to because they gameplay is incredibly unrewarding and you need the best players to win.
Also, buying the player for 1k outright is a good deal in comparison to spend 50k and still probably not packing that player.
Imagine paying that much for a digital card lol
@@GiniusX10 Yeah and that's what bothers me the most, I would just play the old games instead but I guess no mp elements there if you can call it that.
@@dgas5904 The shocking part was sarcasm, it's really sad that people are cleaning their bank accounts in general but in this case for something so shitty as an EA sports game. Still have no idea how people working there can sleep at night.
EA: " *HELP US WE ARE ON FIRE* "
Everyone: Hey guys gather round the fire its nice and warm 😌
Brings marshmallows
@@Tessirith7654 I'll bring the Graham crackers and Hersheys. 🔥
Oh man I gotta pee here let me just turn away from the fire real quick
_“Let's all laugh at a publisher that NEVER learns anything TEE HEE HEE”_
(wasn't it industry?!?)
Single player games are dead- EA
Single player games are great- EA
When the allegedly shady employee is less shady than the guys calling the employee shady.
EA facing a scandal is like having a healthy bowel movement, it's pretty regular.
This doesn’t surprise me. Literally not at all. I bet those mut coin websites are run by EA employees too.
As a wise Star War character once said: *"You-sa in big doo doo this time"*
What was that Gungan Officer's name?
Jar Lee Ermey?
@@al-bot1094 I believe so? His name wasn't really heard
@@spicynuggets2487 then I'm sticking with it.
Well said Darth Binks.
@@al-bot1094 From a wiki I found, his name is Roos Tarpals.
Imagine spending multiple months' rent on some jpegs of football players.
Imagine spending 60 Dollars on a videogame... That's way more than enough for me. - My norms didn't grow with the inflation over the last 3 decades, so all of this is insanity to me.
@@michaelmonstar4276 its fine if youre on a budget but if you arents thats pretty closed minded , i understand some 60 dollar games arent worth it lol
Now imagine spending that money on a jpeg of a football player, only for it to be wiped out at the next iteration of the game. So your jpeg has at most a 1 year lifespan.
@@michaelmonstar4276 .now imagine both at the same time, every year.
fifa
It was a dead giveaway when they employee could afford his own place to live in instead of squeezing 6 people into a studio.
My friend and i have a friendly wager going that the employee is a min wage employee who's treated like crap.
EA: You can not cash out like a casino...
Me: That makes even it worse!
Good comment but it is that makes it even worse peace
I honestly cannot see people defending microtransactions after this. It's basically the gameplay mechanic loop equivalent of selling crack to people.
Without micro transactions the game would die as they wouldn't have the money to continue maintenance of the servers
@@toshiroyamada2443 bullshit excuse
@@toshiroyamada2443 Bullshit. The servers only exist to propagate the live service lootbox aspect of the game in the first place.
@@toshiroyamada2443 You do know they have been selling the same game for 3 years now at the price of full games each, right? Their servers have no business being run to begin with. Not to mention, why do we need a market saturated with online-only games? There are companies making games where mtx aren't implemented, or are cosmetic at best.
It's shocking you three can't see a troll response when one is posted.
EA's just mad that their employees are making money without giving them a cut.
maybe but consider this-- Every single player that gets these cards is going to beat a non payer, and give them the perception that 1. it is possible to win these cards from opening loot boxes, 2. they must have some of these cards to compete. The inequality on the platform is by design and it's basically the only push to market for people opening boxes for money,
I wouldn't be surprised if this is 100% known about, planned, EA complicit etc.
This game's monetization is the the "super obscured pay2win" with false advertising in the mix as well via the created inequality system-Pay2Cheat2Win for players buying these cards directly.
These practices act as false/obscured marketing for gambling and pay2win for the "normal players."
These people probably beat 20 people in a day, EA doesn't care about that $1000 they were never going to put in crates, this is marketing. They are creating the perception, a lie, that people gain these stats legitimately. It's like a claw machine that never pays out, but there are 100s of people walking around the lobby telling you directly, the claw machine DOES pay out. Again, the inequality is the only drive to market for the pay2win, and the pay2cheat2win is great marketing for the claw machine that will never pay out, and is a show of perfect inequality on the platform.
My bet is EA WAS getting a cut of the money lol.
Gotta give the big guy his cut.
Honestly, it feels like this story couldn't be any more poetic if they tried.
The fact that this monetization system is so broken, even those within EA are abusing it to get themselves even more money. It's almost like EA has allowed this to happen and now it could suddenly blow up in their faces because someone in EA literally got too greedy.
Either way, this is still an ongoing issue that needs addressing.
Man, I would have gladly bought a loot box for a chance to sit in at the boardroom meeting at EA when this news broke.
EA: "We are angry that we aren't getting a cut of this"
"I respect the grind"
You know nothing of "respect"
You are corporate livestock.
it's fucking Stockholm Syndrome.
He's part of the problem...
This is something I won't ever understand. It's a game. It's a distraction, from the harshness of life. It's supposed to make you feel good.
Grind is work. You're defending doing stupid, tedious work during your free-time, to enrich multi-billions corporations. There is no advantage to this. At all.
The only way I can "respect the grind" would be as an artistic statement (think of "The Longing" interrogating our relation to waiting, but with grinding), but that's never happening in a AAA game.
Thanks for covering this man. I tweeted you in hopes that you'd talk abt this. We can't let EA get away with this. It is a slap in the face for us football fans. They have a monopoly over the genre and this event highlights their attitude and lack of care for the game. If an EA employee is selling cards on the black market then it states the obvious that they purposely design the game as an addiction based gambling system. We as a community need to get together and hold them responsible.
EA: “this isn’t a legal scandal, it’s a surprise fail...”
Casino: Its not us operating these roulette tables, its our employees
Can you cover the insane microtransactions in Roblox games? They are literally getting kids hooked on gambling at young age, and are much worse than EA.
@person person this is not reddit get outta here
The major scandal here is that people still play FIFA and even pays $$$ on it, such tragedy.
If there was a limit for how much money in game currency would cost that’s be placed, how would game companies try and get around it?
By making things cost way more of the currency so you have to buy more of it.
Blue dot
last time i was this early, EA was arguing in court that card packs aren't gambling because the cards aren't worth money. OOPS.
You gotta love when the shady dev is actually less shady than FUT
That EA does this was to be expected.
The fact there's an actual market for it is just pathetic.
EA performs Scanals all the time.
What a pain in the butt.
"Despicable" isn't a strong enough word for those... *creatures.*
EA manager: "You bought another Mustang!?"
EA employee: "Well you know it helps to save and all of that stuff."
When the illegal way is more reasonable than the legal way, you know something has gone horribly wrong.
I'm scared now that EA will go "That's a great idea!" and sell them officially at $1000s.
Only early people will remember when the title said scanal instead of scandal
saw this too lol
I am here for this.
I saw that lol
Panda was here for that!!
U mean scANAL?
Was here when YongYea forgot the "d" in "Scandal".
Lmao same
At least it wasn't the "c".
@@t.estable3856 sandal ? Yeah thank god
I just got D
EA: It's in the robbery.
Sports game players: Thank you.
I can't wait to see how EA is able to spin this as "Surprise Mechanics".
"EA would like to express its disappointment at the actions of an employee who sold rare Ultimate Team cards for €1000. We feel that, due to the rarity of the cards in question, they could have been priced at double or triple that, possibly even more. Sadly, this employee has acted in a way which does not reflect our company values and we will be investigating into how such a mistake could have happened."
Sincerely
Electronic Antichrist
It makes sense for them to be facing a Scanal.
Imagine being one of these real life players, knowing that your likeness is being exploited by a mug for cash who works for that gambling company (EA).
As if they care?
"It's almost as if it's... a gamble. Huh..."
Perfect.
Funny how they don't care about people's feedback on how their game functions, aka being the same game with a new number stamped over the previous one. But when it comes to something interrupting their of profits, then they respond right away to resolve the issue.
I hope this gets dug deep as it can go until we can all finally see the day that these "surprise mechanics" will be considered illegal in all games unless it is rated for A-Adults.
Though I feel like that will take a long time to see that happen but when it does, I'll be happy and maybe then these big gaming publishers/developers will actually care about quality of games over their lines of the chart going up.
That's the corporate code for ya. They only care when something affects their bottom line.
Imagine paying 1000$ for something that will be gone next year... Yeah.
iPhone?
"Nepen The Z" hahah i can't 😂😂
What's up guys NEPEN THE Z here.
That's a violation personally i wouldn't have it
Sad thing is, you know that the EA employee is making more than his own wage by selling stolen rare cards. Despite being a rich company, their wages are shut. Either way the situation is pretty shit. Kinda like a double edged sword.
Somehow this story just reminds me of those young children that were playing FIFA and they ran their parent credit cards without permission in order to get the rare character they wanted but never got him. Just think what if kids playing FIFA heard about this person
Germany has a new law which lists loot boxes as gambling