It has been less than two weeks since EA SPORTS FC 24 was released globally, and the first market crash in Ultimate Team (UT) has already happened.
The players who have saved enough to build a competent team for the first Ultimate Team Champions are enraged, as they lost 20% to 50% of their coins in the past few days. Some of the highest rated players are dirt cheap in the game at the moment. Bayern Munich’s newest number 9, Harry Kane, who is rated 90 OVR, is worth only 30k coins in the FC transfer market. Why did all of this happened? Well, let’s find out below.
What is the Transfer Market?
The Transfer Market is arguably the best feature in Ultimate Team. Players can buy or sell items, including player cards, manager cards, consumables, or even stadium items, from the Transfer Market. Even though it started as a mean for players to buy or sell player cards, the transfer market has evolved into a massive entity that traders utilize to make tremendous profits.
To the surprise of a majority of UT players, the Transfer Market in FC Ultimate Team has crashed during the first UT Champions weekend, aka the Weekend League.
Why Did the Market Crash?
The Market crashed due to a plethora of reasons. However, the main factors that caused this crash are:
Promo Packs
It is no secret that EA makes most of their revenue through promo packs in UT 24. The promo packs can be bought using FC Coins or FC Points, the latter of which costs real world money. EA has recently put some ridiculously high-end promo packs in the store costing an insane amount of FC points, yet they are still bought by numerous players.
Therefore, there is a surplus supply of these cards in the market, causing everyone to panic and list their cards at a price lower than their market price, eventually snowballing to a market crash.
Lack of Quality Squad Building Challenges (SBCs)
While there are many active player SBCs in FC UT 24, it is crucial to remember that quality surpasses quantity. None of these SBCs are exceptional or cost-effective, discouraging players from buying players from Transfer Market and completing these challenges.
Milestone Packs
One commendable addition to the recent FIFA/EASFC games is the inclusion of objectives and milestones, offering players the chance to passively obtain decent packs through stress-free gameplay. However, players can actively complete these milestone objectives
Some milestone groups can be accomplished in just a couple of hours, rewarding players with at least three 100k Jumbo Rare Player Packs. Newcomers who got the game on September 29, 2023, are only now catching up to this “shortcut” and have started opening their milestone packs. Even though these packs are untradable, players could use these untradable player cards to replace (and sell) tradable player cards in their squad.
Who is Affected by this Crash?
With the exception of elite tier cards (which are extremely difficult to pack anyway), every player card in EA SPORTS FC Ultimate Team, particularly the mid to high-tier META cards, has been impacted by the market crash.
The 86-rated Cristiano Ronaldo, for example, went from 35,000 to 18,000 coins in just four days.
When Will These Cards Recover?
It’s only a matter of time before some of these cards will recover their value in the market. SBC fodder cards, for example, are only one quality SBC away from reaching their usual price. Tottenham Hotspur’s Heung Min Son is expected to win the Premier League Player of the Month title. In that event, the value of these fodder cards may skyrocket due to the heavy demand.
Low to mid-tier META cards (for example, Raphinha and Rodrygo) may not rebound to their previous levels. The game’s power creep has already begun, and these cards are becoming obsolete. Furthermore, the players’ purchasing power has improved, allowing them to acquire superior players.
The high-end META cards (for example, Marcus Rashford) will fluctuate a lot. These cards are still somewhat rare to pack and are extremely popular among UT Champions players and content creators.
The elite tier META cards (for example, Kylian Mbappé) that are unaffected by the market meltdown will remain at that level for the foreseeable future. Don’t expect these cards to go down in value anytime soon.
EA, this market is FINISHED and the game is 2 weeks old pic.twitter.com/UXscvavdjS
— Nate – TheFutAccountant (@FUT_Accountant) October 7, 2023
What Should You Do
In our opinion, do not start selling everyone anticipating the market to go even lower. However, if you can buy some high-end META cards during this crash, especially a Road to the Knockout (RTTK) card, that could do you a world of wonder.
These promo cards will go out of packs next Friday (therefore essentially killing its supply) and have the potential to get multiple upgrades. These are the cards that will definitely hold their value for the next two or three months.
