For those who don't know, FC Ultimate Team is a gamemode that has been part of the FC 25 Coins franchise for some time now. Players try to collect cards representing famous players from throughout soccer history and use them to build their own soccer teams to pit against each other. Players get these cards out of lootboxes, which can be earned in game or bought directly. The FC loot drops have gotten EA in some hot water already, landing it in a legal debacle over the definition of gambling in European courts.

Regardless, loot remains a crucial element of Ultimate Team. Random chance is meant to level the playing field a little, even if people invest lots of money into buying extra lootboxes. That's what makes these new allegations so grim if they're true. If certain wealthy Ultimate Team players happen to connect with certain EA insiders, apparently they can bypass the loot system to buy whatever players they want.

Extremely powerful Prime Icon Moments, versions of famous players at their prime, have shown up in screenshots of conversations with these supposed Ultimate Team black market dealers. What's more, it sounds like these individuals have been at it for some time. They seem to have package deals ready, offering set prices for specific combinations of Icon and Team of the Year cards. If that's the case, it's extremely unhealthy for FC Ultimate Team.

Naturally, fans are outraged that apparently some of the game's best and rarest cards are available on a veritable gaming black market. After all, some of the cards mentioned in whistleblower claims and screenshots mention cards that literally can't be obtained by legitimate means anymore. However, fans are pointing some blame at EA too.

Some fans believe that if there's a FC Ultimate Team black market, it's in large part due to EA's loot structure. Many have long criticized the cheap FC Coins loot drops as exploitative, and believe that shady dealings by wealthy die-hard players is only the natural conclusion of the game's structure. With that in mind, many fans are calling for this to lead to more than internal investigations at EA; fans want more changes to the loot system.