EA Apologizes for Mistaken Award of TOTY Player in FC 24

Electronic Arts (EA) recently issued an apology to fans of FC 24 after a bugged challenge led to thousands of players unexpectedly receiving an ultra-rare TOTY player. As stated in a blog on their official website, an error in the Squad Builder Challenges (SBC) on January 30th caused an unprecedented opportunity for players to obtain the untradeable Lionel Messi card with a value of hundreds of pounds.

Although EA intervened and removed the challenge within 24 minutes, the damage was already done, and numerous players had taken advantage of the glitch, leading to calls for EA to rectify the situation and provide the same reward to all players. In response to the uproar, the EA team acknowledged the frustration within the Ultimate Team Community and extended their apologies while expressing appreciation for the patience of their fans. They reassured players who completed the SBC during the occurrence that they would be allowed to keep their rewards, and the SBC would not be reinstated in its original form. According to the developer, only a minute percentage of players, specifically “0.7 per cent” of Ultimate Team participants, managed to secure a TOTY Messi item while the erroneous challenge was active.

Despite this resolution, some players have expressed doubts about EA’s reported percentage, with one individual on the official Reddit of the football game stating, “I mean, the odds for getting Messi in that SBC alone was around 20-25 per cent, though.”

Additionally, there have been arguments challenging the accuracy of the 0.7 per cent claim, with another player explaining, “It probably is a real number, but that number doesn’t represent their active players nor is representative for the people who had access to their consoles at content release time.”

Following the recent incident, EA’s community has experienced concerns about the fairness and accuracy of in-game activities, particularly in the European timezone, where the majority of players who participated in the SBC reside and where Messi’s presence has caused frustration for dedicated users.

Notably, this isn’t the first time EA has had to address discrepancies in FC 24. Late last year, an issue with the soccer simulation game allowed players with a specific playstyle to exploit a glitch that provided them with an unfair advantage, prompting EA to disable the EA Sports FC 24 perk in order to restore balance to the game.