FIFA Ultimate Team. That happy place where we can whittle away hours of our precious time by building up a good squad for no reason other than victory. Not only that, but we can spend a lot of money trying to get the best players for our squads. The likes of Ronaldo and Messi don’t come cheap, you know. Now, a British FIFA 18 player has used the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law to ask EA just how much time and money he has spent on FIFA in the last couple of years. The answer isn’t pretty.
Indeed, Michael from the UK has spoken to Eurogamer about the response to his GDPR request. GDPR was created to help EU citizens discover just how their data is being used by companies. EA track game-time, money spent and all sorts of smaller stats when it comes to FIFA and a whole host of its library. “I was intrigued to see if any of the data related to any of these topics.” The answer Michael received informed him that not only has he spent hundreds of hours on FIFA but that he has also spent over $10,000 across two years.
Thirty days after sending in his initial request, Michael received his stats. He was given two massive PDF files giving him details on everything from the number of goals scored to the specific players he has bought on Ultimate Team. You can find some of the details of his GDPR release on Imgur. He also took to Reddit to discuss his results. Turns, out, he plays FIFA a hell of a lot.
FIFA Ultimate Team Spending: Those Players Don’t Come Cheap
“I would play Ultimate Team more or less everyday. I used it as my downtime and my hobby. Depending on the time I have free, I can spend anything from 30 minutes to six hours playing. I play Weekend League every week and this is obviously time-consuming.” The most shocking stat, however, was the amount of money Michael has spent on Ultimate Team over the last two years. He was “gobsmacked” to find out that he has spent over $10,000. Thankfully, he was able to afford it.
“Upon reflection, the figure EA stated would be correct. 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. Myself and my fiancee are fortunate to have a healthy disposable income, so this kind of amount wouldn’t have caused a strain on us financially. I do, however, have the utmost sympathy for those in a position of low income who may also be or become addicted to buying loot boxes.”
While it’s easy to flit money away on services like Ultimate Team, Michael, at least, has learned to slow down his spending. “If anything, the data EA has provided me has made me realize that FIFA Points are just not worth it.”
