In FC 24, a serious mistake shook the FIFA scene. EA distributed rewards that were far too generous due to a miscalculated pack probability, at least to some players for a while. While some were able to enjoy really strong cards, the majority of the community has to suffer under the bug fix losses.
What was the error? On Friday night (May 10), several users on different platforms posted showing strong player choices from the Ultimate Team Champions Finals rewards.
Many posts showed that several players were rewarded with the Team-of-the-Season versions (TOTS) of Mbappé and Dembélé. Here you see a sample montage of these player picks:
One pick alone with Mbappé and Dembélé, who are the most expensive players from the current TOTS of the French Ligue 1, is worth over 20 million coins.
That one single player pulls both superstars is likely to happen in the rarest cases. However, since the cards circulated on the internet at an unusual frequency, it quickly became clear to attentive observers that this must have been an error by EA.
“Unwanted outcome”: EA corrects botched rewards
How did EA react to the significant error? EA acted immediately and posted this message on X/formerly Twitter late Saturday night (CET):
The brief statement reads: “We have identified an error where the Champions player picks resulted in unwanted outcomes. This has been corrected in-game.”
New, weak rewards at the expense of players
What impact did the correction have on the player picks? And indeed, the revision by EA was clearly noticeable. While most player picks before the intervention contained at least one player worth over a million coins, the strong rate dropped significantly after a certain point.
You can see this turnaround in this highlight video from a German streamer, who captured both the good and the bad rewards. You can skip to 11:30 after the first strong player picks to see the weak player picks after EA’s intervention:
Instead of the million-dollar players in the player picks, only the cheapest cards from the TOTS of Ligue 1 appeared after a certain point. The most valuable and valuable players seemed to have disappeared as if swallowed by the earth.
The first reactions from the community to the changed rewards were quick to follow. Many players, as well as some well-known streamers, commented on EA’s blunder and how they handled it.
The faux pas was strongly reminiscent of a fail that occurred during the Team of the Year (TOTY) in FC 24: Some players received a card worth 9 million coins almost for free – others are very angry that they missed the chance.
Community considers new rewards to be a “joke”
What does the community say about EA’s actions? In the comments, the FIFA community vented considerable steam. Under EA’s announcement on X/formerly Twitter, well-known international figures from the scene also commented.
For instance, FC-24 content creator NepentheZ wrote under the post: “You must be joking. Leave it as it was. Everyone was happy. Crazy, really crazy how you want to trick people who play your competitive game mode.”
His comment received over 10,000 likes. Many other posts directly address the perceived unfairness.
The comment by BEASTAF summarizes the community’s opinion: “So, because I didn’t play on Friday, there’s no red Mbappé or Dembélé for me. This gives me Messi TOTY vibes.” (referring to the controversial compensation for a mistake during the TOTY period, when many players were able to pull TOTY Messi with way too high probability for a short period, Ed.)
German streamers also voice their opinions: The German content creator and former FIFA pro Tim Latka made a statement on his YouTube channel Saturday morning. In this, he also referenced EA’s announcement.
He finds the handling of the mistake particularly questionable. Instead of simply sweeping the blunder under the rug and making the player picks worse, he sees it like NepentheZ: the error should simply be kept in place to provide the same opportunities for everyone.
Even if EA was unable to come to this conclusion, they should at least meet the community halfway and offer a sensible compensation. Tim Latka advocates for additional player picks to at least slightly increase the odds of getting a Mbappé or Dembélé.
However, it seems that only those who benefited from the mistake on Friday night/Saturday night are allowed to be happy. The majority of the community seems to be left out in this regard. If you think you had bad luck, perhaps the story about an absurd streak of misfortune will cheer you up: Trading expert in FC 24 loses 45 million coins in one shot, is plagued by bad luck.
