EA has issued an apology to FC 24 fans following a glitch in a challenge that unintentionally rewarded numerous players with a highly valuable and hard-to-obtain Team of the Year (TOTY) player.
The official website revealed that for a brief 24-minute period on January 30th, participants in the Squad Builder Challenges (SBC) had an unusually high chance of acquiring the 86+ OVR untradeable Lionel Messi card, valued at hundreds of pounds.
Once alerted to the problem, EA swiftly withdrew the challenge within half an hour. However, the damage was done, with thousands of players already securing the prized item. This prompted calls from those who missed out for EA to rectify the situation and level the playing field by providing the card to all players.
“We acknowledge the frustration within the Ultimate Team Community, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused. We appreciate your patience,” stated the EA team. In response to the issue, EA decided that players who successfully completed the SBC during the affected time “will retain their rewards,” and the SBC will not be reintroduced as originally intended. According to the developer, only “0.7 percent” of Ultimate Team players obtained the TOTY Messi item during the erroneous challenge.
“We recognize that this solution may not be perfect, and we are committed to improving our processes to minimize such incidents in the future,” the team affirmed.
Not all players are satisfied with EA’s explanation, with some disputing the claimed “0.7 percent” figure. Critics argue that the odds of obtaining Messi in the SBC were higher, around 20-25 percent. Additionally, concerns were raised about the regional distribution of players, with European time zones potentially having more access to the challenge.
Some players on the official Reddit forum expressed their discontent, stating, “The only people that will defend this are those that got Messi who were panicking their card would be taken away.” Others lamented the potential overexposure of Messi for dedicated players in the European timezone.
This incident follows a previous glitch in EA Sports FC 24, where a perk had to be disabled to address a bug giving some players an unfair advantage in the game. The glitch allowed players with the Trickster Playstyle to attach the ball to their calf and easily score by running into the opposition’s net.
