FIFA 23 is currently up for pre-order around the world, and is supposed to be a full-price retail release. But in one particular market on one particular store, customers could get one hell of a bargain.
Last month, anyone browsing the Epic Games Store in India would have seen that while the standard edition of FIFA 23 cost ₹3,499 (USD$44), the Ultimate Edition—which should have been ₹4,799 (USD$60) was instead listed at ₹4.80.
That is not a sale price, that is an error. One where the store has clearly put the decimal point in the wrong spot. ₹4.80 works out to be six cents, and as word spread about the savings, users flocked to the store and bought the game. And not just Indian gamers, either; once news got out, fans were sharing across social media ways for players outside the region to set their accounts to the Indian Epic Games Store, so they could get in on the error as well.
Now, this kind of thing isn’t exactly rare in the realms of online shopping, but often stores will cancel orders when the discrepancy is this huge. I don’t think too many people would have been expecting to actually get hold of the more expensive version of FIFA 23 for six cents.
But they have! Via PC Gamer, EA Sports have this week issued a statement saying:
A few weeks back, we scored a pretty spectacular own-goal when we inadvertently offered FIFA 23 pre-purchase on the Epic Games Store at an incorrect price. It was our mistake, and we wanted to let you know that we’ll be honoring all pre-purchases made at that price.
That’s nice for anyone who managed to score the savings, but let’s be real: EA isn’t really missing out on much here. While FIFA has always been and still is a full-price sports game that features single-player modes, in recent years the franchise’s Ultimate Team multiplayer mode has been making the company billions. I’m sure the math on “Money lost on initial six cent sales” vs “Money made long-term through Ultimate Team” still works out in the company’s favour.