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EA has banned more than 30,000 FIFA 22 players for seven days after they exploited a loophole allowing them to leave matches without suffering a loss.
FIFA 22 has been on the market for almost three weeks at this point which probably means its players have already participated in more than one billion matches. That's based on the reveal by EA that 460 million matches had been played less than a week after the game launched. What's unclear is whether that total includes matches that ended prematurely.
FIFA players will know matches ending before a full 90 minutes has been played is commonplace. Whether it be due to a connection dropping out or someone rage quitting after conceding four goals on the bounce. That usually results in whoever ended the match suffering an even steeper loss than they would have had they stuck around. However, a lot of players recently discovered quitting a match in FUT Champions meant they didn't suffer a loss at all.
EA revealed via its FIFA Direct Communication Twitter account that it had resolved the issue. It added that it was also in the process of identifying those who took advantage of it before it had been fixed. Fast forward four days and not only has EA identified more than 30,000 people who quit FUT Champions matches without suffering a loss, but it has also hit them all with seven-day bans from playing FIFA 22 online.
“We have identified over 30K active accounts that exploited this issue consistently and have suspended them from FIFA 22 online for 7 days,” the tweet reads. That means those banned will miss out on taking part in this week's FUT Champions Finals. The use of the word consistently is key here. If you rage quit a match or your connection dropped out during a FUT Champions match, the ban shouldn't apply to you. Only to those who clearly saw what was happening and used it in their favor.
The only issue now is the length of the ban. While the tweet clearly states it will last for seven days, a handful of players in the replies claim they have been slapped with a 1000-day ban from playing FIFA 22 online. If enforced, that will leave them without the ability to play online matches until FIFA 24. If the series is even called FIFA at that point. EA continues to hint it is seriously thinking about renaming the games after calling them FIFA for almost three decades.