Electronic Arts (EA) has indefinitely suspended discretionary content granting in FIFA 21.
The developer shared the news via a new update regarding the game’s recent player item trading scandal. The controversy was brought to light last week, when Twitter user Arcade-Fut shared screenshots of transactions in which players were placing orders for non-tradable FIFA Ultimate Team icons in exchange for money.
Since then, EA has launched investigations into the matter, and have shared an update with the FIFA community. The update revealed that “one or more EA accounts, which were either compromised or being used inappropriately by someone within EA, directly entitled items to these individual accounts”.
EA also said that once the investigation has concluded, action will be taken against “any employee found to have been engaging in this activity”. Additionally, “items granted through this illicit activity will be removed from the FUT ecosystem and EA will permanently ban any player known to have acquired content through these means”.
EA also explained the concept of discretionary content granting to gamers who are unfamiliar with the process. Discretionary content granting refers to the practice of special in-game items being “directly distributed to a specific player account”.
The practice is typically used as a “make-good” when players have been negatively affected by errors in the game, as a way to test new in-game items, and to “recognize contributions that have been made by certain Pro Footballers, celebrity partners, or even our own employees”.
EA has reiterated its zero-tolerance stance on the matter, confirming that it will “permanently ban any accounts identified as receiving items transferred nefariously, and we have suspended all discretionary content granting for an indefinite period”.
Further investigations are ongoing.
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