The ongoing controversy surrounding whatFIFAfans are calling “EA Gate” continues to grow. EA has now responded to accusations that official accounts were being used to sell rare, high-valueFIFA Ultimate Teamitems for thousands of dollars. As its investigation begins, EA has also made an immediate decision to suspend the practice of rewarding discretionary items indefinitely. That’s unlikely to sate frustrations within theFIFAcommunity, but it’s a start.

For those unfamiliar with the concept of discretionary content granting forFIFAby EA, the publisher provided a brief synopsis. Basically, it’s a way for EA to giveFIFA Ultimate Teamcontentto people automatically, bypassing the RNG elements ofFIFApacks. These items are granted via EA employees or partners and cannot be traded. EA says they’re only given to professional football players, celebrity partners, and employees, and absolutely not to “professional video game influencers.”

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Alternatively,EA says that discretionary itemscan be given by customer service agents to players who may have accidentally deleted items, or given by testing and quality verification users via test accounts when issues arrive. Obviously, these scenarios have very strict restrictions on them.

EA is clearly trying to head off the idea that it’s been using theseFIFA Ultimate Teamdiscretionary items without restraint. It’s easy to understand whyFIFA Ultimate Teamplayers would be worried that theYouTubers and Twitch streamersthey follow are being manipulative and aren’t relying on the same systems they are. Further, they worried that EA could be manipulating theFIFA Ultimate Teammarket with these discretionary items.

What EA is trying to do is correct this mistaken assumption, as it would prove incredibly damaging to the perception of what’s become one of EA’s most lucrative games. If players can’t trustFIFA Ultimate Teampacks, then they won’t buy them. EA wants players to know that, even while the controversy at hand is very bad, they can still trust theFIFAUltimate Team market.

With that said, EA isn’t trying to deny the controversy itself. It’s acknowledged that the discretionary item redemption system has been abused andlaunched a full and “rigorous” investigationinto how it happened. It has also promised to punish all accounts that have been involved in the illicit buying or selling of these discretionary items and will delete all illicit items. Lastly, EA has issued an apology for the impact the problem and controversy have had on theFIFAcommunity. Hopefully,FIFAplayers will appreciate that as a start.

FIFA 21is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.