It seems that EA is looking to make EA Sports FC 24 even more expensive, with a new paid season pass as well as loot boxes.
Sports games have always been at the cutting edge of publisher monetisation, safe in the knowledge that sports fans are willing to spend more on loot boxes and other cosmetics than almost any other kind of gamer.
EA has often been criticised for all the additional expenses in FIFA, now called EA Sports FC, and it seems like they’re going to kick up an even bigger hornet’s nest this year, as the new game now has a paid-for season pass in it.
It wasn’t announced during Wednesday’s reveal of the cover art of EA Sports FC 25, but it has been confirmed by the developers, as being a season pass for Ultimate Team, Career Mode and Pro Clubs.
It looks like you can pay for the so-called Premium tier with both real money and in-game currency, and that it will work similarly to the free season track for Ultimate Team, where you unlock rewards like extra XP, player packs, unique players, and coin boosts.
Ironically, the Premium tier is unlocked as a reward in the free season track, so you can’t buy it straight away. Although at the moment it’s not clear what it would cost anyway.
‘You can go back into the game and see the free tier as it would be what it was in 24 – then the premium pass is something we’re adding on top. That’ll be a shared thing across Clubs, Career and Ultimate Team. That’s new for 25,’ producer Karthik Venkateshan told VG247.
There are no screenshots of the pass, but design director Richard Waltz insists that, ‘At a high level, there will be nothing in the paid tier that can’t be earned in the free tier. There’s no exclusive rewards that will mean that you have to do that.’
The fact that they haven’t advertised the feature suggests that EA is worried about how it will be received by fans, but if it doesn’t contain any unique content they no doubt feel it will be tolerated.
If it does prove unpopular though there is precedent for EA backing down from their monetisation plans, most famously with the disastrous launch of Star Wars: Battlefront 2.
At the moment it doesn’t seem as if the premium tier will be that divisive, but fan opinion can change quickly and EA knows that more than most.
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