The pack machine
Ultimate Team is the mode inside EA Sports FC where players spend real money on packs of random player cards. You pay first and find out what you got afterward. Critics have compared the mode to gambling for years, and EA has pushed back hard on that comparison.
The rating says it all
Every FIFA and FC game carried a PEGI 3 badge until now. EA Sports FC 27 is the first in the series to carry PEGI 16, and the reason is Ultimate Team. Under PEGI's new rules, in effect since June 2026, any game that sells paid random items gets a minimum rating of 16.
No odds, no answers
No odds or return-to-player figure are published for Ultimate Team packs. EA's latest financial report describes Ultimate Team as a substantial part of roughly $5.5 billion a year in add-on content revenue across all its games, with no breakdown of what players spend on packs.
Regulators disagree
Belgium declared paid loot boxes illegal under its gambling law in 2018. The UK government reviewed the issue and decided in 2022 not to ban them, leaving the industry to regulate itself.