EA issues seven-day bans to over 30K FIFA 22 players who exploited an Ultimate Team "no loss glitch"
Bad form.
EA has slapped over 30,000 FIFA 22 players with a week-long ban for exploiting a glitch in Ultimate Team.
The so called "no loss glitch" was active in FIFA Ultimate Team's hardcore competitive mode last week.
Essentially, it made for an easy and effective way for players to hit a 20-0 win-loss record in FUT Champions.
All players had to do was "dashboard" - hit the PlayStation or Xbox button on their controller - during a match and wait for the timeout. The game wouldn't give you a loss for doing this, which meant players were able to quit out of matches they felt they would lose without penalty.
As you'd expect, news of this "no loss glitch" spread and players exploited it en masse. So many players used it to gain the vast rewards that come from a 20-0 record in FUT Champions that the Ultimate Team transfer market suffered a crash as card values lowered even further.
This morning, EA said it had identified over 30,000 active accounts that exploited this issue "consistently", and has suspended them from FIFA 22 online for seven days. This prevents them from playing in this week's FUT Champions Finals - aka the ultra hardcore Weekend League.
There is some debate within the FIFA community about whether this punishment goes far enough. Some have said it's little more than a "slap on the wrist", given players get to keep the rewards they obtained from exploiting the glitch.
"A load of trash players got the best rewards they'll ever get," redditor Statcat2017 said. "Seven days is peanuts, most of them miss a WL they wouldn't even qualify for."
Others have complained about losing FUT Coins on the transfer market as a result of the crash caused by players who exploited the glitch.
"This ban is a slap on the wrist and doesn't do nearly enough to compensate everyone else who've lost coins due to the crash," redditor GrizzlyAdam12 said.
EA pointed to its Positive Play Charter, which states players should "keep things fair".
"No cheating or giving yourself an unfair advantage," the charter reads.
"Play games the way that they were meant to be played. It's simple, nobody wants to play with a cheater; just don't do it."
The charter then explicitly states players should not "use exploits, cheats, undocumented features, design errors, bugs or problems to get a leg up on others".