EA Sports Employees Allegedly Selling FIFA 21 Ultimate Team Cards for Money as #EAGate Trends

The FIFA Ultimate Team community was shocked by allegations made Wednesday, March 10 when a hashtag, EA Gate, alleging that EA Sports employees were selling FIFA 21 cards for real life cash to players.

Twitter account @FutArcade posted multiple images of conversations alleging that EA Sports employees were selling high valued items for real money and then dropping them onto accounts. As a result, #EAGate began to trend and still is as of writing.

EA Sports Employees Allegedly Selling FIFA 21 Ultimate Team Cards for Money as #EAGate Trends

Based on the screenshots, one party would charge upwards of 750 Euros and more for items. It's unknown how many employees have allegations levied against them or the amount of possible underground transactions. It's also unknown if these allegations stem back to previous FIFA titles.

FIFA Ultimate Team is arguably the most popular mode in the franchise driving millions in revenue for EA Sports each year. The game operates with two forms of currency: FUT coins and FIFA Points. Coins are earned via gameplay and selling items on the in-game Transfer Market. FIFA Points are a microtransaction currency that users can spend real money on in exchange to open packs dictated at a certain value.

The kicker here, is that spending what's alleged on these cards on just FIFA Points wouldn't equate to anywhere near the same value. The ramifications of these allegations could be massive for the community considering the response to content and gameplay this year. Fans constantly complain that the game is too pay-to-win focused and doesn't reward players who don't spend money. These allegations hammered their points home even more that FUT needs a revamp.

Update (March 10, 4:30 p.m. ET): EA Sports issued a statement regarding the allegations on the official FIFA game Twitter account: "We are aware of the allegations currently circulating within our community related to FIFA 21 Ultimate Team items. A thorough investigation is underway, and if we identify improper conduct, we will take swift action. We want to be clear - this type of behavior is unacceptable, and we in no way condone what is alleged to have happened here. We understand how this creates concern about unfair balance in the game and competition. We will update the community as we get more clarity on the situation."