Electronic Arts has announced the release price of its FC 27 game’s top-tier Ultimate edition, with the game two months away from launch. In American markets, the game will be worth USD 149.99, and players in Europe will have to pay a mirror amount of €149.99 to buy EA’s flagship product.
The unique selling point of the FC 27 ultimate edition is up to seven days of early access. Other additions include but are not limited to several perks for its online multiplayer mode Ultimate Team, five season premium passes, and some FC 26 content.
With these price labels, EA have made FC 27 their joint costliest game ever, matching the price of College Football 25 MVP Edition. For context, the latest editions of EA’s other franchises such as Battlefield and Need for Speed were only priced at USD 69.99.
I sometimes wonder why yearly sports games cost more than a generational game like GTA 6. 💀
— GameVerse (@TheGameVerse) July 23, 2026
• GTA 6 Ultimate Edition – $99.99
• FC 27 Ultimate Plus Edition – $149.99
• NBA 2K27 Ultra Edition – $149.99 pic.twitter.com/5YUsQkq1nS
In fact, once game editions packaged with real life goodies and erratic exceptions such as Star Citizen’s DLC packages are excluded, FC 27 might just be the most expensive game ever on launch.
Even the most hyped game ever, GTA VI, has a much more modest price tag of USD 99.99 for its ultimate edition. Set to release later this year, Rockstar’s latest launch arrives 13 years after its prequel and expects to bring along another revolutionary gaming experience.
By contrast, FC uses the same Frostbite engine that EA has used for their football games since 2017. The game physics have remained largely consistent over the years, with only minor changes such as modified set-piece mechanics added to the experience.
Rockstar itself received heavy criticism for its price, despite GTA VI being the most expensive game ever made with a budget of at least a billion dollars. Unsurprisingly then, EA is being buried online for its incessant pricing policies.
“Rockstar received criticism after announcing that GTA 6’s most expensive edition costs $100, a game we’ve waited over a decade for. Meanwhile, these companies are selling $150 editions for a roster update every year.”
The largest criticism from fans was the regular increase in cost despite game features largely remaining the same year after year.
“The funny thing is, those sports games keep getting more expensive, but they’re basically just patch notes 😭”
The last time the franchise underwent significant change was 2022 with EA’s introduction of HyperMotion Technology that aimed to make player motions more realistic.
“gta 6 ships a full game for €99. ea wants €150 for a roster update and some blue points youll spend on a player youll never use. publishers eventually price themselves out of the market, then blame piracy.”
The shameless part of the prices is that it is not even EA’s main source of revenue. The label earns more from microtransactions riddled through Ultimate Team than it does from game sales, aptly noted by fans.
“And the sports games get worse every year for people who prefer single player features. Its all multiplayer and microtransactions now 😅”
EA’s irredeemable pricing is a consequence of their domination of the football gaming market ever since they first signed a licensing deal with FIFA in 1993. As one X user pointed out, their primary competitors Konami enjoyed some early success with Winning XI and Pro Evolution Soccer, but eventually succumbed to licensing costs.
“Because EA FC has no real competition. Back in the day, there was PES but they lost the competition and now EA can do whatever it wants But sooner or later, a new football game will come along that can compete with EA”.
Even though FIFA ended their partnership with EA in 2022, EA managed to acquire team and league licenses independently to cement their monopoly.
Incidentally, EA is not the only company to benefit from such a phenomenon. Take-Two Interactive boat a similar monopoly over basketball games courtesy of their NBA licensing deals, allowing them to price NBA2K27 at the same price point as FC 27.
It must be noted though that EA have kept prices largely consistent throughout, with the latest hike being their first in years.
The ultimate edition, introduced as the new top-tier product in 2018, has always been priced at 100 US dollars. The base edition prices, meanwhile, have jumped slightly every few years, the latest being a 10 dollar bump to USD 69.99 in 2022.
Nevertheless, there is no excuse for a game that launches an update every year to be priced so ostentatiously. Yet, there is no guarantee that game sales will reflect all the criticism that EA is receiving online.
