EA defends Fifa Ultimate Team transfer market price ranges

FIFA Ultimate Team developer EA Sports has defended its introduction of transfer market price ranges earlier this month.

The move was prompted by a rising tide of coin sellers who were destabilising the game's economy.

In a new statement and Q&A for FUT fans due to go live this evening, EA detailed its latest move to tackle the problem - tailoring its price ranges to fit individual platforms. You can see a spreadsheet of how prices have changed here.

"Since the introduction of Price Ranges, we've already made more than 650 adjustments to player pricing, with a focus on the highest value players available in the FUT economy," a FIFA spokesperson explained.

"Last week's introduction of Price Ranges has helped restrict illegitimate coin transfers on the FUT Transfer Market, and balance player item prices so they reflect the current marketplace, but finding that right balance will take some time - we have a team dedicated to finding that balance.

"On Wednesday, we made another important change that will bring better trading balance and fairness to the Transfer Market. We've introduced unique Price Ranges on each platform (Xbox, PlayStation, and PC) to reflect the values and dynamics in those unique economies. This will bring minimum and maximum prices better in line with the perceived value within those economies, and make transfers fairer and more enjoyable for all FUT players."

EA's transfer market now caps the minimum and maximum amounts of coins that items can be sold for via the popularity of players and other items on each platform.

Items include players, in-forms, consumables and club items.

The need for a minimum item price has angered some fans, something to which EA has now responded:

"Removing the minimum range would open Price Ranges to the movement of fraudulent coin selling transfers," the developer said. "Coin sellers are looking to use certain players with market values much lower than their maximum range in order to transfer set amounts of coins.

"We understand that the minimum price range has been a frustration for many of you, but it's a necessary part of eliminating coin selling in FUT. We'll continue to adjust Price Ranges for players in order to find the right balance for the Transfer Market."

By tailoring the market to each platform, EA hopes to avoid the situation where the upper range for an item on one market could be seen as too low on another - thus creating a situation where users were unwilling to sell players at all.

And EA has no plans to sell coins itself, the developed continued:

"Selling coins directly to fans contradicts the core principles of FIFA Ultimate Team. The game is designed to reward progress by playing the game the right way through matches, squad building, Transfer Market trading, and making decisions with pack items. FUT fans understand the enjoyment of making decisions on route to building their Ultimate Team.

"Fans that want to accelerate their progress, can do so by opening packs with FIFA Points or earned coins. The choice has always been up to you and that's part of the fun. As coin selling became more prevalent, it created an illegitimate shortcut, and people may have forgotten that the game isn't meant to instantly give you the best items or players. It's about progression. It's about chasing the win. It's about managing your squads and making decisions."

EA Sports removed transfer market trading from its web and companion apps back in February in a bid to stem the worst offenders.

At the time, the developer said that it had removed the feature to perform "important maintenance". In today's update EA noted the move, but made no further promises on when the services might return.

However, EA did mention that the removal had allowed the developer to slow down coin selling, which has in turn brought greater stability to prices and allow it to more easily ban coin seller accounts.

Further improvements are also on the way, such as better rewards for FUT Tournaments, more promotions and special content and increased security to cut off exploits, EA concluded.