EA FC 24 Ultimate Team is more pay-to-win than ever – and it could kill the game
EA FC 24 is now available to play worldwide, but unlike FIFA 23 and past FIFA titles, pay-to-win mechanics are in from the go.
The long-awaited release of EA FC 24 is finally here, and the first instalment of the EA Sports FC series has not disappointed so far. EA FC 24 is the first football game released by EA Sports without the FIFA branding following the end of a 30-year partnership, so the pressure was on.
Better gameplay, new additions to Ultimate Team and crossplay finally being added to Clubs are just some of the features that have impressed me so far, and it's why I gave the game a glowing 4/5 score in my EA FC 24 review. But there's one glaring issue in Ultimate Team that I just can't ignore. Already, there are some extremely expensive packs available in the UT Store, whilst the new Evolutions feature also includes an Evolution pathway (the one with the best upgrades) that you must buy, or use a lot of coins, to unlock.
EA FC 24 Ultimate Team – going full pay-to-win could kill the game
Before EA FC 24 was even released worldwide, EA released a pack in the UT Store that was only obtainable by parting with 275k coins or a whopping 3,000 FC Points. Yep, you read that correctly! Before the game was even available to everyone, players could purchase a UT Pack including 30 Rare Gold Player Items rated 81 or higher, a loan Hero player item and a loan Icon item.
From this UT Pack alone, players could build an entire starting XI and bench, all rated 81 and above just by spending money. Expensive packs being released this early in the game is not a good sign, if anything, it's an indication that the game could easily be dead before it even gets started.
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Part of the fun of starting a new Ultimate Team squad in the past has been the ability to grind the new game, get used to the gameplay with some low-rated players and slowly improve your squad as the Ultimate Team season went on. But if you choose not to put money into the game and try this in EA FC 24, you're coming up against 85-rated squads in Division 10 of Division Rivals and already way behind the curve.
Having these expensive UT packs available from the go, and keeping the best Evolution upgrades behind a paywall, this early on in the game means there's a strong likelihood a lot of players will go for the easy but expensive pay-to-win solution, thinking it will guarantee them better players. But that's just not how it works because, If you spend more money than someone else on packs, it doesn't mean you'll be the better player and success won't come instantly, but it sure is helpful to have a good team.
In FIFA 23, we only started to see Packs in the FUT Store worth 200k, 300k and 500k towards the end of the FIFA 23 Ultimate Team cycle, which I personally don't mind. But having these sorts of packs available in the first few days of early access helps push the pay-to-win mindset.
To add to the packs, the first promo squad of EA FC 24, RTTK, already features some extremely high-rated, overpowered and meta players like Erling Haaland, Bruno Fernandes and Bukayo Saka. As the game advances, these promos will only get higher-rated and the UT packs will only get more expensive, and with how it's started, we could be seeing Shapeshifter-like content around the new year rather than at the end of the game's lifecycle.
If this happens, I fear we could see Ultimate Team quickly become stale, and I hope this isn't the case for EA's most popular game mode.
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