Last year, EA created a large number of articles and opinion pieces on the issue of revenue generated by Ultimate Team FIFA 21. When we talk about Ultimate Team (or FUT), we are talking about the most popular game mode in the FIFA series ever. A game mode in which gamers can obtain player cards and create their dream team using a model that includes micro-payments, which makes the EA title generate a great deal of money for the company.
Few industries have enjoyed more of our quarantine year at the time of the Corona plague, than the video game industry, and we can name companies such as, EA, Sony, Activision, Bus and more, among the keys and publishers who have enjoyed massive sources of profit thanks to gamers staying home around the world.
As an example, in 2020 the company EA ended the year with a profit of about1.49 $ 1 billion, and if we look at previous years, this is a significant jump of over $ 100 million from 2019, in which profits amounted to1.37 Billion dollars. In 2021, the company made a record profit coming, with 1.62 Billion, when it then represented about 29% of the company’s profits that year.
This was actually the fourth year in a row that EA earned more than $ 1 billion just from Ultimate Team mode, when in 2018 it earned about1.18 Billion dollars.
During the end of May, the gaming giant released, as usual, its revenue report for 2022, and surprisingly, it decided not to publish the profits of the popular game mode for that year. Omitting financial data seems to defeat the whole purpose of a financial report. This may all be related to the rise in legislation against the use of micro-payments in a number of Western countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium.
The issue has also gained momentum in countries like England and Germany that have begun to explore the “surprise mechanics” as EA calls them, and have begun enacting laws against them. Citizens in California and Canada have also filed a class-action lawsuit against EA and the Ultimate Team, which they claim is encouraging illegal gambling, so more and more awareness of the issue is evolving as time goes on. Recently, a report published by the Norwegian Consumer Council concluded that loot boxes can be exploited, using FIFA 22 as an example. The report stated that the system has a misleading design that requires people to spend more money without giving details about the probability and algorithm used. The report and its findings were supported by 20 consumer groups in 18 countries.
In the end, it is not known why this change occurred and the company decided not to publish the reports. EA of course will not answer or explain its reasons. The only question is how long can EA pretend there are problems with the system it uses to run the Ultimate Team. Is the company just waiting for a number of judgments to figure out which direction it will have to go after all the lawsuits and lawsuits are over.
It is worth remembering that the next title will be the last to bear the name of the FIFA football organization. The title after it will already be called EA Sports. Which should continue even after the end of the partnership with FIFA