Pray for the Dude Who Just Realised He Spent $10K on FIFA Games in Two Years

As we keep learning this week, people are very serious about their video games.

A FIFA fan in the UK has told Eurogamer he recently discovered he’d spent $10,000 on FIFA games over the last two years.

Understandably, the gamer, Michael, declined to give his last name to the outlet.

Michael made the discovery when he asked game developer EA for all the data they had on him. He made the request on 25 May, when the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect in Europe.

Thirty days later, EA supplied him with two PDF files that were more than 100 pages long, each. Along with audio of his calls to EA support (!), the data dump included all the money he'd spent on FIFA Points and FIFA Coins (FUT), which buy you 'card packs' in the game and are used to build out one’s Ultimate Team.

In real world dollars, he learnt he’d spent more than $10,000 over two years, on FIFA 17 and 18 exclusively.

There’s also the possibility he spent up to $16,000, because one of the provided documents (not published online but shared with Eurogamer) apparently list two figures of $6,144 and $10,010 for different time periods.

The article doesn’t specify if those figures are in Euros or Pounds, but if you convert them, Michael’s roughly looking at the Australian equivalent of $15,000 – $25,000.

Though there’s something to be said about a gamer who doesn’t notice he’s spending approximately $666 a month for 24 straight months, this horror story nonetheless speaks to the controversy around loot boxes, and how they can encourage addictive behaviour (not to mention the rumours of "momentum" swirling around FIFA games, suggesting that the game cheats; claims EA has refuted).

Either way, keep an eye on your online wallets!

Header Image: EA