FIFA Ultimate Team: A Game Mode or a Billion-Dollar Industry?

FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) maintains its status as a center attraction of football fans and the whole gaming community. The game has truly revolutionized the industry. FUT entered the franchise as filler content but grew into the core feature and earns billions each year. Thousands of millions of players from across the world spend their time and money to develop their ideal squads take part in league matches. The army of game fans keep growing.

The gameplay economy is rather straightforward. It requires FIFA Coins to function as its fundamental unit within FUT. With FIFA Coins, gamers can purchase elite athletes as well as make in-game transfers. One needs to play countless hours to earn the precious FIFA Coins. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to spend so much time in the game. It is for this reason that some gamers decide to buy FIFA coins through alternative services. This way, they can boost their progress in the game and build strong teams with zero stress or hassle.

Let’s dig deeper into the topic of FIFA Ultimate Team and investigate the player retention approaches of FUT. So keep reading to learn more about gameplay economics together with how microtransactions made FIFA one of gaming’s top moneymakers.

Cards and Packs: The Player Retention Mechanism

The core system used in FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) at the heart is the card-based system where players collect the footballer cards. Each of these cards is a real player with some special stats and attributes. The cards that forth come together to decide in-game performance and squad chemistry so these are the basis is your successful team.

The only two ways you can get new player cards are either by buying packs (loot boxes) or purchasing individual players from the in-game transfer market. Cards in each pack are individually sorted so that every pack has a random assortment of player cards. Thus, the odds of pulling an elite player, such as Kylian Mbappé or Lionel Messi, is less than 1%. Despite the low chances, gamers keep buying packs, driven by the thrill of the unknown and the hope of getting a game-changing card. Team of the Year (TOTY) or Ones to Watch (OTW) promotions enhance this even further as limited-time cards with better stats encourage more packs to open.

The psychological triggers are similar to those of gambling. Various studies about loot boxes in video games have demonstrated that uncertainty about rewards and dopamine was associated with rare pulls engaging players in a loop. This effect gets further amplified in FUT thanks to special promotions. The latter draws players to open even more packs to get those limited-time, boosted stats cards.

Transfer Market and In-Game Economy

The FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) in-game economy is very complicated, and the transfer market plays an important part. FIFA Coins are a virtual exchange in which FIFA players can buy and sell player cards. Supply and demand work on the player prices, rare and popular cards, such as top strikers or legendary Icons are very expensive. For example, Kylian Mbappé’s card could be worth hundreds of thousands of coins when the season begins, and cards of rare promo event players could cost millions.

Likewise, the price of the transfer market is also subject to strong fluctuations. The number of changes is down to many factors though, the availability of cards in packs, the release of new promo events such as ‘Ballon d’Or’ or ‘FUT Centurions’, and changes to player ratings. For example, the 2024 season introduced loan cards that resulted in some of the prices for the strikers dropping sharply; Son Heung-Min’s card dropped from 160k to 100k coins, and Diego Forlán’s from 500k to 250k.

There are multiple strategies that gamers can use to earn coins. Buying players for minimum prices and reselling them for a profit afterward, a practice known as ‘sniping’ is preferred by others. Others earn by doing Squad Building Challenges (SBCs), where the player can exchange unwanted players for valuable prizes. Although EA Sports restricts players from doing that, a lot of players still look for more effective solutions — buying coins from various third-party services, for example.

EA actively regulates the market to prevent fraud and inflation. They have a restricted Price Range, put a tax on each transaction (5%), and do not allow coin transfers between accounts. The measures are meant to combat coin ‘farmers’ and third-party sellers who are destroying the balance of the FUT economy. Overall, the dynamic transfer market in FUT not only mirrors the functioning of the real match, but it also has its own way of building a unique gaming ecosystem. 

Microtransactions and the ‘Pay-to-Win’ Model

In 2024, two of the biggest money makers for Electronic Arts were extra content sales and the “pay to win” model. Additionally, about 75% of EA’s total revenue came from live services, and Ultimate Team was responsible for around half of that. It was reported that approximately 70 to 75 percent of players buying EA’s sports games turn to Ultimate Team and about half of them spend cash on microtransactions. Gamers are enraged with this pay-to-win model; therefore, they insist that the companies should focus more on their players and less on profits.

Alternative Ways to Earn FIFA Coins

In all, FIFA Ultimate Team has become much more than a game mode, and we would say has transformed into a billion-dollar industry that still grips gamers from all over the world. The first and most innovative aspect of FIFA Ultimate Team is its in-game economy that is based on FIFA Coins. It gives both opportunities and challenges to those players who seek to create the perfect squad. Many resort to microtransaction spending to speed up their progress, but the pay-to-win model remains an unpopular aspect in the community. 

As EA Sports further refines its monetization strategies and regulations, FIFA Ultimate Team is poised to maintain its dominance in the gaming landscape. Despite criticism, its ability to balance gameplay mechanics, in-game purchases, and player engagement ensures that FUT remains central to EA’s financial success, with its future continuing to be shaped by both innovation and player demand.