Players of the Ultimate Team modes in both Madden 26 and FC 26 are complaining about unprecedented levels of bans, ranging from actions as mundane as selling cards to even opening rare cards. It's the downside of card-collecting modes that bring in millions of dollars but create complex markets that not even the company tasked with running them completely understands.
One of the biggest sins in EA's virtual marketplace is the "selling" of coins. I'm not going to dive too far down into the economics or the ethics there, but the bottom line is that in creating an Ultimate Team account you agree you won't buy any of EA's digital currency from anybody but EA.
One of the ways around this is buying or selling cards at an exorbitant price. Maybe I'd like to gift my friend 200,000 coins, so I'll just have them put a bronze card worth 100 coins up for auction and pay 200,000 coins. EA's system is programmed to flag such transactions as fraudulent.
Problem is, the value of cards can often swing wildly for any number of reasons. One of the biggest is the release of new cards. A powerful new running back in Madden will quickly tank the price of the older ones, as they just aren't as good. New programs sound like the culprit in this bizarre ban wave.
FC 26 is celebrating its Christmas program, Winter Wildcards. Players are reporting bans for selling these cards, or in extreme cases apparently just packing them. We suspect some automated system is in play here, as some of these bans make absolutely no sense. Also, with the holidays here, a lot of people are probably out of the office. This is making it more difficult to contact anybody at EA to appeal bans.
As I've said before regarding Ultimate Team, if you create a complex economy your company needs to be competent enough to manage said economy. Banning players for committing the sin of ya know, playing your game, is not a way to ensure player loyalty. Someone who received a ban on their account and has two million of their coins wiped may never play that game, or any other EA game again. They'll also discourage their friends from doing so.
Making matters worse, EA's enforcement of its arbitrary rules isn't applied evenly. Watch any tip video for Madden or FC 26 on YouTube, and you'll likely see an ad for a service that sells coins or grinds accounts. These creators clearly have access to their accounts, despite promoting tactics that are against EA's terms of service. Some of them are even favored creators who receive perks directly from EA. The rules should apply to everybody, or they don't really apply to anybody.
App Trigger will keep you posted as this chaos unfolds.