A pair of bullet points explicitly says, "Players will be actively messaged + incentivized to convert throughout the summer," and that "FUT is the cornerstone and we are doing everything we can to drive players there." The second slide outlines several key ways EA planned to EA FC 24 Coins advertise Ultimate Team in the months leading up to FC 24's launch, which included targeted messages, discounted bundles, and in-game advertisements. Clearing up any ambiguity about EA's intentions, one bullet point explicitly reads that the ultimate goal is to "funnel players towards FUT from other modes."

Since the release of FC 24. dissenting players have once again voiced their displeasure with FUT's loot boxes. Some have long claimed that EA only cares about the Ultimate Team modes in its premier sports franchises, but it now appears that there is tangible evidence to support this assumption. According to CBC, an anonymous EA spokesperson has responded by saying that the slides were being viewed without proper context.

While that is true in the sense that the slides are just two pages of a larger presentation, EA's intentions with FUT seem clearly outlined therein, with no perceivable room for reinterpretation. EA has been fighting to keep loot box mechanics in its games for years now due to how financially lucrative they are, so it makes logical sense that it's apparently actively encouraged players to buy more. However, the way loot boxes fundamentally function is too close to gambling for some governments' liking, so EA may ultimately answer to those interested parties when it comes to EA Sports FC Ultimate Team and other loot boxes in its games.

In the wake of the March that flew by, Sony has revealed the stats for the PS5's most downloaded games. Some of the ranking titles, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and FC 24 are no real shock, whereas the newly released It Takes Two is a pleasant surprise. The PlayStation 5 debuted late in 2020 as the current-gen successor to Sony’s PS4. The release of the console was definitely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic causing the production factories to close down in the months leading up to the release.

This caused the PS5 to have a much smaller first batch of launch units, leading to what little was distributed around the world to sell out. Pre-orders are still difficult to come by, with scalpers reselling what little units are available for thousands of dollars. Since December 31. 2020. the PS5 has sold 4.5 million units, which is on par with the PS4’s launch sales back in 2013.

As Spring begins, PlayStation is looking back on the most downloaded games of March 2021. The top five spots for North America went to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, NBA 2K21. It Takes Two, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. Over in Europe, the top five sellers of March were FC 24. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, It Takes Two, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

The only major difference between the two regions is the choice of sports games EA Sports FC and NBA 2K21. with soccer being far more popular in Europe and basketball being one of the biggest sports in the USA. Impressively, It Takes Two took the #3 spot in both regions, a big achievement for EA's Hazelight Studios.

The numbers for PS4 downloads were also included, with many of the listings following suit with the PS5 stats, except for games that have yet to receive PS5 ports. Big-name titles such as Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto V have yet to be ported to the PS5. both of which are still in development. Once these games upgrade to the PS5. both of them should chart fairly quickly based on the history of success these games have consistently enjoyed.

The main thing missing from this report from Sony is the actual number of downloads, and it has to be kept in mind that digital sales only represent a portion of total game sales. So far the PS5 has such a small pool of games that aren’t already on the PS4. which is a good indication of why the console's sales charts remain so similar. Hopefully, this year will see Sony announcing more titles for its new console during more digital showcases, such as E3 2021 in June.

An upcoming FC 24 tournament will feature Jason Sudeikis as manager Ted Lasso and will stream on YouTube and Twitch. The Ted Lasso series first began as a variety of promos for EA FC 24 Coins for sale  NBC Sports' coverage of the Premier League that Sudeikis featured in, where he played none other than Ted Lasso. From there, the show was developed and aired on Apple TV+ in August of last year.