It looks as though EA is really trying to crack down on what's been happening by looking to catch and punish players and staff who were involved. Despite this, the company says it understands that this is not tarring fans with the same brush, and that it knows this is equally frustrating for those who do play the game legitimately. FC 25 Coins is just one of many soccer games that have become huge successes over the decades, making the franchise one of the most popular sports titles in the world, and subsequently has helped EA's sales grow recently. It's hardly surprising then that EA doesn't want this scandal to mar its reputation, even if that reputation can be shaky at the best of times.

EA is no stranger to controversy. Players and critics often have a bone to pick with the way the company makes and manages its games. Most fans can probably remember the controversy that stirred up around Star Wars: Battlefront 2 when everyone found out that EA had plans to put lootboxes in the game in a way that ran the risk of shifting in-game power into the hands of players who spent more money on the game.

Nobody likes the thought of a pay-to-play game; such a structure creates systemic inequalities that can hurt and frustrate large majorities of the community. Unfortunately, EA seems to be connected to another pay-to-play controversy, although not as direct as Star Wars: Battlefront 2. The newly awakened controversy has to do with FC 25. the latest installation in EA's long line of FC games.

Fans have come forward claiming to have discovered EA employees who offered to sell them Icon cards and Team of the Year cards for exorbitant amounts of money, upwards of a thousand dollars. These weren't just any cards either -- fans allege that these employees were selling the rarest and strongest cards in buy FC Coins Ultimate Team, bypassing the game's intended random loot drops. EA says it's investigating the issue, newly dubbed EA Gate by fans, but it's only getting more complicated.