Ultimate Team is EA’s controversial cash cow that brings in hundreds of millions of dollars to the publisher’s coffers every year. While FIFA players are well used to EA Sports adding expensive and powerful card packs later in the year-long life of the annualised football game, with the launch of FC 24, the community has reacted in shock to a $30 pack available to buy before the game even properly launched.
The Elite Season Opener Pack, currently available in the store, cost 285,000 Ultimate Team coins (the in-game currency), or 3,000 FC Points (the premium currency). 3,000 FC Points costs around $30. In true video game monetisation fashion, FC 24 does not let you buy 3,000 FC Points exactly in one bundle.
This Elite Season Opener Pack is so powerful it's causing some players to call FC 24 pay-to-win right out of the gate. It contains:
- 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 Hero rated 88 or higher
It’s worth pointing out the cards included in this pack are untradeable, which means owners can’t sell them on the FC 24 transfer market. Still, it’s a pack that theoretically provides the buyer with a powerful squad at the launch of FC 24, which we should remember is a $70 video game on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S (and $60 on Nintendo Switch).
And here are the probabilities, as of the morning of October 1:
Why is the Elite Season Opener Pack causing such a stir? Not only is it one of the most expensive store packs in the history of Ultimate Team, it was available before FC 24’s official release date. FIFA fans can’t remember EA Sports dropping a pack this expensive this early... ever.
And even though this pack offers buyers a better chance of getting one of the best cards currently in Ultimate Team, the odds are that you will not. It may well be the case that you get 45 players rated in the low 80s, or plenty of duplicates depending on how many cards you already have in your club.
“Knew it was bad value but figured I'd get something,” redditor Appearance_Deficit said. “One 85 fodder and 26 [duplicates] all below 83 rated. Put [duplicates] into gold upgrades and got nothing. Essentially got a poor 100,000 pack for three times the price.”
“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,” redditor towfoon said. “In two weeks’ time you won’t have any interest in any of those players you pulled unless it is an absolutely insane pull.”
“Not to mention this game has a life cycle of less than a year,” added nyse125. “Realistically, spending anything over $30 to $40 should net you some of the best players for the rest of the game.”
“Obviously it's a good pack but please seek therapy if you're buying this,” Adzzii_ said. “First week of FIFA and you're dropping £30 on an untradeable pack.”
Some FIFA players think this pack this early in the life of FC 24 marks the continuation of EA Sports’ strategy of gearing content towards store packs, rather than objectives such as Squad Building Challenges. "LOL literally just getting pack content," Business_Ad561 said. "Where are the objectives? SBCs? Dead game man."
GI.biz reports sales of FC 24’s physical version are 30% down on those of FIFA 23 in the UK. While digital sales may well make up some of this difference, it seems EA Sports’ switch from FIFA to FC has had an early days impact. Perhaps sales of this Elite Season Opener Pack will soften the blow.
IGN has asked EA Sports to comment on FC 24’s Elite Season Opener Pack.
EA Sports has for some time now faced criticism of Ultimate Team, which has come under fire from children's groups and researchers in recent years for its link to gambling, and from players for enabling pay-to-win in competitive modes.
The publisher has so far stuck to its guns, insisting players love Ultimate Team packs and equating their availability through in-game or premium currency as player choice. Last year, the UK government stopped short of taking action on loot boxes, despite finding that players who buy loot boxes are "more likely to experience gambling, mental health, financial and problem gaming-related harms". Instead, the government said it does not consider loot boxes to be the same as gambling, and as a result will not make changes to the Gambling Act.
This year, the UK video game industry agreed new principles and guidance on paid loot boxes, but experts predict it will have little meaningful impact on EA Sports' efforts.
Currently, the major platforms and storefronts have parental controls in place, where adults can set play time and spending limits, and platforms have adopted the requirement to publish loot box odds.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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