Regulators in Belgium banned paid loot boxes - the only way that EA makes ongoing revenue from Ultimate Team - in 2018, specifically investigating FIFA among three other games the Netherlands recently upheld a €10 million fine against EA for violating gambling laws (EA has said it will appeal). Yet Ultimate Team seems to be under attack from every angle. "There's only two games every year that sell 20 million copies: FIFA or Call of Duty" - Ryan Gee The pandemic is not about to end soon analysts believe video game spending will only increase. "This is off-the-charts different," said EA's COO Blake Jorgensen at the time. Over the summer, EA said Ultimate Team revenue was up 70 percent from the same quarter last year, with 7 million new players. This year's pandemic, which closed cinemas and concert venues and even nixed most live football for several months, has only benefited the makers of games that can fill the sports fan's void. Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, has said that the only game that cuts into Fortnite playtime is FIFA. "There's only two games every year that sell 20 million copies: FIFA or Call of Duty," said Gee. Having launched just over a decade ago as a FIFA add-on, Ultimate Team is now a cornerstone of the business model of one of the gaming industry's biggest players. Ryan Gee, an interactive entertainment analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch who has covered EA since the mid-2000s, estimates that FIFA Ultimate Team alone probably accounts for about $900 million. That's 28 percent of all EA's revenue, a company that also publishes Apex Legends, The Sims, and every new Star Wars game. Last year Ultimate Team modes in all EA Sports games - such as Madden NFL and NHL - made $1.4 billion. Yet there is still a buzzing industry of YouTubers cracking open pack after pack, Patreon accounts offering trading tips for the fluctuating in-game transfer market and illicit websites peddling virtual currency.įor publishers EA, it’s an absolute cash cow. Everything that this entails is the nub of much dismay in the FIFA community. The effect is that Ultimate Team feels more like a freemium game lodged inside a $60 title. You can earn packs in-game or purchase them with real money. The chance of receiving, say, Lionel Messi, is microscopic - but theoretically possible. Played over the course of real-life football’s autumn-to-summer seasons, it's Panini stickers or baseball cards crossed with fantasy football - and you get to play as your signings.įundamental to the game is opening loot boxes, known as packs - which consciously appropriate the Panini aesthetic - from which you acquire new, random players. Essentially, you indulge the armchair expert's fantasy of building a dream team of your favorite players and competing with them against others'. Premier League pros Sergio Aguero, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang play it. To legions of FIFA players the new title really signals the start of a fresh season of Ultimate Team.įor the unfamiliar, FIFA Ultimate Team is the most popular feature in the game, and the one that's come to define the overall experience.
Fifa ultimate team simulator#
But the latest version of the iconic football (soccer, to Americans) simulator is only marginally notable for its minor aesthetic updates, niche gameplay tweaks or reheated rosters.
Fifa ultimate team series#
FIFA 21 will no doubt make over $1 billion, as each entry in the series has in recent years.
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