In somewhat of a strange move, EA recently forced two professional FIFA players to settle their match with a good old-fashioned game of rock, paper, scissors.
I cannot believe it !! @EASPORTSFIFA @EAFIFADirect We literally had to play a rock paper scissors becauce we couldn’t find each other to invite in an EA LICENSED QUALIFIER . WTF !! 😭😭 I am done
— Shaun Galea (@brandsha56) February 29, 2020
“I cannot believe it,” Galea wrote. “We literally had to play a rock paper scissors because we couldn’t find each other to invite in an EA licensed qualifier. WTF!” The issue arose due to problems with the FIFA servers.
All that hardwork from Phase 1 for absolutely nothing . Phase II comes and I lose a rock paper scissors game to decide my swiss record . What else can I say ? My head’s completely gone . From 2-0 to 2-3 . @EAFIFADirect @EASPORTSFIFA
— Shaun Galea (@brandsha56) February 29, 2020
“All that hard work from Phase 1 for absolutely nothing,” Galea posted in a second tweet. “Phase II comes and I lose a rock paper scissors game to decide my Swiss record. What else can I say? My head’s completely gone. From 2-0 to 2-3 .”
Over on Reddit, people are wondering why the players even went through with such a fiasco in the first place. “The thing is that if one refuses, the other one will almost certainly take the opportunity to ‘win’ rather than protesting too,” points out Redditor FriezaAndHoushi. “For some, this is their livelihood. It’s easy to say when you don’t have the pressure that comes with it.”
The victor, Hasan Eker, also commented on the match.
Stehe 3-1, da ich mich im Rock Paper Scissors erfolgreich durchsetzen konnte! pic.twitter.com/PvBcQ8EXqx
— Hasan Eker (@eker_haso) February 29, 2020
A quick Google translate roughly puts this as, “Stand 3-1 because I was able to successfully prevail in the Rock Paper Scissors!” Frankly, it’s a bit absurd to read, but this is the sort of quick thinking EA displayed when it sought to remedy the situation. Our servers are down? Not our problem. Flip a coin, or play rock, paper, scissors, or something.
It seems as if professional leagues are a bit of an afterthought over at EA. If a football match is postponed due to weather conditions, the ref doesn’t call up the managers and say, “alright, pick a number between 1 and 10.”
The EA Sports FIFA Twitter page has yet to comment on the situation. It’s looking unlikely they will.