EA has banned more than 30,000 FIFA 22 players for seven days for exploiting a technical glitch enabling them to leave matches without suffering a loss.
FIFA 22 was released last month and has surpassed 460 million matches been played less than a week after the game launched, as per the company press release. “Since launch, we’ve already had 9.1 million players join the game, 7.6 million Ultimate Team squads created and 460 million matches played. We will continue delivering amazing experiences throughout this season, but first – a heartfelt thank you to our incredible community of football fans,” the press release dated October 7 read.
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The glitch allowed players to avoid an official match loss by quitting the match in FIFA Ultimate (FUT) champions. Normally, that would result in an even steeper loss had they continued till the end. The glitch frustrated genuine players who aimed for FUT Champ wins and rewards.
We have identified over 30K active accounts that exploited this issue consistently and have suspended them from FIFA 22 online for 7 days, preventing them from participating in this week’s FUT Champions Finals.
— FIFA Direct Communication (@EAFIFADirect) October 20, 2021
Read about our Positive Play Charter here – https://t.co/KR5ZrE9X5O https://t.co/c5wih0bkGR
The glitch was discovered after a video on TIkTok uploaded by user apexskillz went viral. During its statement, the gaming giant pointed players towards its Positive Play Charter – a set of guidelines issued by EA for players to maintain a positive online experience.
One of these guidelines directs the players to “keep things fair” by not using “exploits, cheats, undocumented features, design errors, bugs or problems to get a leg up on others.”
Genuine users hit by EA ban?
However, some players have reported that they were banned under the ban wave for engaging in normal trading practices in FUT, including trading in non-rare players and selling cards at inflated prices. In some instances, users had their coins wiped out.
@EASPORTSFIFA @EAFIFADirect @EAHelp Flipping solution non rare golds is a crime now? fix your game cba anymore its a joke pic.twitter.com/qF6PjtsDVh
— Ati 👑 – FUT (@AtiiFut) October 21, 2021
. @EAFIFADirect @EAHelp @EASPORTSFIFA sort ur game out please. All I did was trade with gold commons in SBC solutions pic.twitter.com/rIVWiNeUPY
— rageefffect – FUT trader 🇳🇴 (@rageefffect_) October 21, 2021
Meanwhile, EA and the global soccer governing body are contemplating severing decades-old ties with the popular game to be renamed as a result.