A FIFA player asked EA for his account data, which he may request under the new GDPR. The response shocked him. He apparently spent well over $10,000 on the FUT mode of FIFA 18 and 17 and didn’t even realize it.
The new GDPR grants access: On May 25, 2018, a new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in the EU. This allows players to request their data from companies.
Michael, a FIFA player from the UK, took this opportunity and wanted to see the data that EA had recorded from him and his account.
Nearly a month after his request, Michael received a response in the form of several emails with records of his FIFA 18 data, audio recordings of his phone calls with support, and a nearly 100-page PDF file with details about the players he had purchased.
His biggest surprise was the expenses he had incurred in the last two years.
Michael’s analysis showed over $10,000 spent in two years on FUT
After reviewing his data, Michael was apparently shocked by how much money he had invested in the FUT mode of FIFA 17 and 18 over two years.
Michael spent over $10,000: According to the data, he invested over $10,000 in about 24 months. Apparently, he had no idea how much he was actually spending. In a reddit posthe published this anonymized data so that everyone could gain insight.
The total might be significantly higher: After he shared this information with Eurogamer, they reanalyzed the data and found that the amount is apparently significantly higher. Michael had already spent quite a bit on FIFA 17, over $6,000, raising the total to over $16,154.
Thousands of FIFA Points – Without Thinking
Nonetheless, he can retrospectively comprehend this amount, as he had indeed invested some time in the FUT mode. Especially events like Black Friday, Team of the Year/Season made him spend money almost casually.
Special events such as Black Friday, TOTY, FUT Birthday, TOTS, Futties, etc, I would have thrown in thousands upon thousands of FIFA Points without even a second thought.
Michael sees the FUT mode as his hobby and enjoys using it to relax. He also has enough free time. So sometimes he spends just 30 minutes, but sometimes also 6 hours straight with FIFA.
However, this amount surprised him greatly. After discussing it with his significant other, he will probably cut back on his spending in the future. There are better things to spend over $10,000 on in two years.
