The Twitch streamer Tyler “Trainwreck” Nicknam is currently on a crusade against EA after they did not want him to participate in a tournament in Apex Legends. Allegedly, because he engages in gambling in his stream. Trainwreck accuses EA of being hypocritical. They would even show ads for an online casino in FIFA 22.
This is the situation:
- The streamer Trainwreck is known for betting millions of US dollars, either on crypto exchanges or in online casinos where he puts money into virtual slot machines.
- Trainwreck wanted to participate in an Apex Legends tournament hosted by Twitch streamer Nickmercs in early November, but EA and the Apex Legends team prevented that. Nickmercs believes it’s because they wanted to distance themselves from Trainwreck and his gambling streams.
- Since then, Trainwreck is not pleased with EA at all. He accuses EA of constantly promoting gambling.
“Damned clowns!”
What bothers him about FIFA 22? In a previous post, Trainwreck expressed his frustration that FIFA 22, with its card packs in the “FUT” mode, essentially engages in gambling and earns extreme amounts of money from it.
But now he complains about a specific screenshot from the game. The jerseys of 2 players promote a well-known crypto casino. It is also the casino where some Twitch streamers play.
Trainwreck writes:
“Last week EA told Nick they didn’t want me to participate in his tournament because I engage in gambling. Today someone sends me this picture in FIFA. What a bunch of damned clowns.”
Trainwreck
Premier League club signs high sponsorship deal with crypto casino
What’s up with the picture? The game features 2 players from Watford F.C. – the club has “in real life” a jersey advertisement for the online casino, and EA replicates this in the game.
According to information from sportsbusiness.at, the deal with the crypto casino is supposed to bring the Premier League club about £5 million per year. This translates to about €5.9 million.
Previously, Watford had already featured a Bitcoin branding on their jerseys.
Trainwreck does not find it convincing that teams do this in real life, and thus it is Watford F.C.’s fault: Anyone who has even half a brain must understand that this argument is even more hypocritical.
xQc criticizes colleagues for “unprofessional” behavior
Update 17.11.2021: Meanwhile, the biggest streamer on Twitch, xQc, has commented on the topic. He criticizes Trainwreck for his behavior in attacking EA. According to xQc, what Trainwreck is doing is simply unprofessional.
EA doesn’t want him at the tournament. End of story. Trainwreck has to accept that. Maybe they rejected him because of his gambling, maybe not – it doesn’t matter.
EA can decide for themselves whom they support and whom not. That is entirely their business. But even xQc agrees with Trainwreck’s criticism: Having such advertising in the game is indeed advertising.
EA once referred to loot boxes as “fairly ethical surprise mechanics” and compared them to Kinder Eggs.
