EA Sports: Ultimate Team

Ultimate Team is an online game mode within the EA Sports video game franchises. It was introduced in the 2008 game FIFA 09 and allows gamers to build an all-star team featuring players from different teams in order to compete against other gamers or the game's computer AI. This mode was later introduced in Madden NFL 10 and NHL 11.

Why it is Ultimately Paid

1. First and foremost, this mode is a big source of revenue for EA, as many players spend money on the premium points currency that allows them to open packs, instead of in-game coins due to desperation. Also, as these are Loot boxes, the player would not know what they get until they complete the payment.
2. The revenue generated from this mode made EA unable to focus on other modes such as Franchise Mode, as they don't bring as much money as Ultimate Team.
3. Building each year's team is a costly process as the player is encouraged to log in almost every day due to limited-time events, such as some cards they want could spike in value when a set requiring it is released, increasing said card's value and demand.
4. When a new edition of an EA Sports game is released, the player's team isn't carried over to next year's version, however, players can still use the said team in the said game until it's servers shut down (typically 4 years after). When the servers close, the team is gone for good.