Ada Hegerberg harassed after FC 24 glitch – and EA isn't doing enough to fix it
Lyon Women striker Ada Hegerberg has been subject to harassment on social media after an unusual glitch saw her avatar become unusable in EA FC 24.
EA FC 24 is now available worldwide, with a host of new fantastic features being added to the game, including the addition of women's football players in Ultimate Team – the most popular game mode. Putting female players into Ultimate Team was much-needed and initially, had been well-implemented by EA Sports. But things have changed drastically now that one of the best women's players in the mode – and in the entire game – remains unusable due to a glitch.
Ada Hegerberg is an 89-rated striker in EA FC 24, with the Norwegian international included in the top 24 player ratings of men and women players combined. The highly sought-after item in Ultimate Team has temporarily become unusable though, due to a glitch that bizarrely sees her run away from the ball and leave the ball behind while dribbling.
One player using Hegerberg seemingly became angered by the in-game bug and oddly decided to take their anger out on the striker personally, sending her some hateful messages which Hegerberg shared on her Instagram story (re-uploaded to Twitter by @GFFN), tagging EA's @EASportsFC Instagram account. EA addressed the in-game glitch during the early access period of EA FC 24, adding it to its Trello board amongst all the other issues in the game.
EA suggests a temporary 'workaround' which, laughably, involves removing Hegerberg from your squad; and nearly two weeks later, this issue still hasn't been fixed. Why?
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Striking out
It's absolutely ridiculous that one of the highest-rated players in EA FC 24 is unusable in Ultimate Team. And what's even more ridiculous is that nearly two weeks later, Hegerberg still can't be used because EA has neglected to address the bug and has deemed not using her at all as an acceptable workaround.
Would this be the case if the same bug affected Lionel Messi or Kylian Mbappe in EA FC 24? In my opinion, this issue would've been fixed almost immediately if it was one of the higher-rated male players, and the fact that it still hasn't been fixed is a terrible look. EA must fix it. The Twitter thread with Hegerberg's Instagram story is filled with vitriol and people mocking the striker for tagging EA – but what else is she supposed to do? She's being harassed because of a video game bug and the devs responsible have seemingly washed their hands of the matter while she takes abuse.
There have been plenty of glitches or issues in the past that EA has managed to fix in hours, or even a few days. Compensation rollouts in FIFA 23 took a few weeks, but players knew free rewards were coming their way, so waiting three weeks for free TOTS players wasn't a big issue.
With EA adding female players into Ultimate Team, the publisher knew that a small minority of toxic players would have a problem with both men and women players in the same game mode. Some players called for a separate game mode for women, while some called it unrealistic (even though you could use goalkeepers as strikers in FIFA 23, and players that are no longer alive, but we're glossing over that apparently). Releasing the game with an issue as big as this, involving one of the higher-rated women players, is a big mistake, and would obviously invite anger from that small section of the community.
EA may shoulder a lot of the responsibility here, but the community is the real culprit. Many male players have experienced this for years; in June, Peterborough United striker Jonson Clarke-Harris was sent multiple messages containing racial abuse from players who had received his Team of the Season (TOTS) item in a pack in FIFA 23 (via Peterborough Telegraph).
At the time, Clarke-Harris said: “I really don’t like to post profanity in my social media where a lot of minors follow me but there comes a point when these people need to be exposed and everyone needs to understand the level of racism me and other ethnic players receive over a football game.”
Another example was in 2020 when a player was given a lifetime ban by EA Sports after racially abusing EA ambassador Ian Wright after losing a game with the Englishman's Icon item in his FIFA 20 squad. Speaking on the Wrighty’s House podcast, Wright praised EA's response to the incident, saying "EA Sports bro, they stepped up. After this attack, they've changed their whole policy. They even apologised to me, which I found really strange."
But where is that sense of urgency and accountability now? Publicly, EA has not provided any update regarding a ban for the player who messaged Hegerberg, but you'd assume that if the publisher has the power to issue bans, then it should be issued for players who are sending disgusting messages to the women's football players as well.
EA knew that bringing female players into Ultimate Team was a contentious issue amongst the more heinous parts of the community and is apparently completely unprepared, unequipped, or unbothered when it comes to doing anything about it.
When one of the highest-rated and most sought-after players in the game is unusable, it's baffling that we are yet to receive another update on the error and that players still cannot use Hegerberg in-game. Mirror Gaming has reached out to EA for an update or comment on the situation, but has not received a reply at the time of writing.
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