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Ukraine warehouse packed with thousands of PS4s was actually a FIFA Ultimate Team bot farm:
A giant cryptocurrency farm in Ukraine that contained thousands of PlayStation 4 consoles was actually a FIFA bot farm.
Last week the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced it had shut down what was reported as a cryptocurrency mining farm that contained an incredible 3800 game consoles. Images showed racks of PS4 Slims (some claimed the photos showed PS4 Pros) - either way not the ideal hardware for a cryptocurrency farm.
It turns out the PS4s were being used to grind FIFA Ultimate Team.
According to an investigation by Ukraine business newspaper Delo, sparked by scepticism of the official claim about the farm being primarily about mining cryptocurrency, as well as the fact game discs can be seen protruding from PS4s in one of the pictures, what we're looking at in the photos is a bot farm that got stuck into the Ultimate Team grind, with the goal of selling accounts loaded up with in-game currency on the black market.
Delo said the Security Service of Ukraine has so far refused to comment on the revelation, citing the secrecy of the investigation. But the suggestion is these PS4 Slims, all controlled by PCs running bots, farmed Ultimate Team for profit.
Previously: Ukrainian Police Bust Cryptocurrency Mining Operation, Seize 3,800 PlayStation 4 Consoles.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by LabRat on Tuesday July 20 2021, @06:22PM
This particular game is run by EA. In FIFA Ultimate Team multiplayer mode, FIFA players are awarded via loot boxes (the best ones have terrible odds), which can be obtained via FUT coins obtained from grinding (what the farm was generating for sale) OR by paying for them using virtual currency bought from EA. You can't directly buy FIFA players in either case. Because of this, the economy is so broken that it has a black market.
Loot boxes are gambling. This game mode is a microtransaction hellscape. Big AAA corporation-made games are often like this these days, unfortunately; the assholes want to recoup investment by any means necessary instead of making a fun game.
Indie stuff is often cheaper and more fun.