Despite being something of a habitual purchaser of the FIFA gaming franchise, I must admit to being one of the seemingly few people who have absolutely zero interest in the online versions of the game. Largely due to the clear emphasis that if you spend money on microtransactions, you’re going to have a far more ‘fun’ experience. Notice I said ‘fun’ and not ‘fair’ though…
In terms of people who play the game professionally, however, one person (who actually plays for a real-world professional club) has made a pretty strong commitment. Specifically, for the 2021 release of the game, they are outright refusing to spend any money on microtransactions to purchase ‘player packs’.
FIFA Pro Rejects FUT Packs!
Coming in a report via Eurogamer, Tim “Tim Latka” Schwartmann, who currently plays professionally (for a living) for FC Schalke 04’s esports team has released a video in which they publically declare that for the 2021 release of the game, they are not going to be spending any money on purchasing player packs or ‘cards’. Something that could potentially give him a huge disadvantage on the professional level, but something that he also feels is an ethical necessity.
Revealing in the video that in the 2019 version of the game, he spent around £3,500 on packs (which you’ll likely only understand if you speak German), Tim Schwartmann has cited his belief that the online version of the game has simply become too heavily involved in ‘pay to win’ mechanics.
“FIFA has never been as pay-to-win as it is now. It shouldn’t be like this. You should never have an advantage just for paying. I know for sure there are pros who haven’t spent that much and they’re still qualifying for events, but it’s way way harder. I want to make it as easy as possible.”
What Do We Think?
As above, I can’t pretend to be an overly informed commentator on this as I have never spent a penny on any FIFA game beyond the initial purchase price. That being said though, I don’t think many who do play the FUT version of the game would deny that paying for card packs can very quickly accelerate your success, and for those who do attempt get wins purely through the game’s mechanics are often highly frustrated when they encounter a worse player who simply had the funds to buy a better team.
Hopefully, this move by a very significant person in the FIFA community may perhaps encourage others to make similar choices. Put simply, if people stop buying these packs, EA may finally have to rethink it’s ‘ethical surprise mechanics’.
What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!
