FIFA 18 players are boycotting the game over EA's use of microtransactions, in response to both the publisher's handling associated with Star Wars Battlefront 2 and issues with the sports game's Ultimate Team setting.

In an online strategy branded #FixFIFA, nearly 25, 000 FIFA 18 players have signed a petition saying they will not participate in the game's Black Friday sales as a result of numerous gameplay problems, along with problems with its in-game purchases. The complaints seem to originate from FIFA 18's patch 1 . apr update, which has observed EA deploy multiple changes to the game that have angered its players.

While FIFA 18 was well-received upon launch (we called it "the greatest FIFA within years" in our review), the petition gripes that it has transformed into "FIFA 17. 2" as a result of EA changing its mechanics. These have caused many among the game's community to request that EA change the overall game back to its initial state, with the author having yet to respond to these criticisms.

On top of this, the game's microtransactions have also arrive under fire, with YouTuber Goran Popovic posting a lengthy explanation on Reddit showing how unfair its Ultimate Team game setting is on those who don't spend cheap fifa 18 coins real-world cash on it. Although Ultimate Team is by far the FIFA franchise's most popular mode, many players believe that the drop rates for the greatest players in FIFA 18 are considerably lower than in earlier years.

With Ultimate Team seeing players spending coins or even FIFA points, the game's purchasable currency, on obtaining packs containing players to add to their squad, it's essentially the same concept as loot containers. The contents of each pack are randomized, meaning that those who purchase them can end up wasting a significant amount of money in the pursuit of unpacking a top-flight player - Popovic claimed that he and his friends spent $500 on packs, and only obtained one top player for their trouble.

The #FixFIFA post setting out the changes the FIFA 18 community wants EA to create to the game additionally criticizes its microtransactions, with user PuRe_SSROCK writing: "The packs are completely RNG and have terrible drop rates, you can either spend $1. fifty and get the best player in the game, or spend thousands of dollars and get ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. People with the best team in the game have spent a whopping $8, 000+ to acquire it, which is absurd especially for a yearly game. "

With EA getting already been roundly criticized for their use of microtransactions in Star Battles Battlefront 2, this is yet another controversy for the publisher to deal with in what must have been a particularly trying November. FIFA players are currently advocating others to boycott the game's Black Friday sales and not buy any more packs until EA has fixed the modifications, with the #FixFIFA strategy garnering attention throughout social media and prominent YouTubers joining their own cause.