It's an interesting time to be a FIFA fan. This year's entry may be the best yet, and it may also be the last in the series to bear the FIFA name. FIFA itself says it's taking its ball home, and looking for someone else to play with. Over on the other pitch, eFootball's having an absolute 'mare (though whether it deserves to be the worst-rated game in Steam's history is debateable). Meantime life goes on, millions of players are having their virtual football jollies, and some naughty types have been taking advantage of exploits to dodge losses.
Last week EA noticed an exploit in FUT Champions, probably due to a semi-viral TikTok video, which allowed players to exit losing matches without the loss being counted. The developer patched the issue quickly, saying "we resolved an issue in FUT Champions that could allow players to leave a match without suffering a loss," but adding the warning that "we are identifying players that exploited this issue and will be following up with them directly."
The follow-up has arrived and, having identified the accounts that used this behaviour "consistently", EA has retrospectively banned over 30,000 players from FIFA 22 online for a week.
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.Read about our Positive Play Charter here - https://t.co/KR5ZrE9X5O https://t.co/c5wih0bkGROctober 20, 2021
Amusingly enough, loads of the cheaters are tweeting back in panic at the EA announcement, saying the ban has been mistakenly applied for 1,000 days. EA says this is just a display glitch and the bans are all for a week.
There are even those who think that taking advantage of such an exploit shouldn't be punished: when, after all, it's in the game. Such arguments can inspire extreme positions, such as Gegarzon's impassioned outburst.
are u kidding me? No matter how time u play, no matter how much money you spendt. ITS ILLEGAL, U can kill someone, u are able to do it, but its illegal, IF u do it, you go to jail. Real life is a epic fail cuz u can kill someone? NO. SO ALL BANS ARE DESERVEDOctober 20, 2021
Yes! Let justice rain from the heavens! SO ALL BANS ARE DESERVED.
FIFA 22 has also just received an update on PC, fixing a raft of minor issues, and no doubt you'll all be delighted to know that beards now display correctly when creating an avatar. We reckoned this year's entry played a good game but, as ever, the controversy around FUT's monetisation remains a major sticking point. Still let's enjoy it while we can: EA Sports FC bans 30,000 players just doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
