EA's most expensive game ever is here, and it costs $150. EA FC 27 Ultimate Plus, the latest entry in the football simulation series, launches this fall with a price tag that shatters the publisher's previous records, setting a new ceiling for what a single video game can cost at retail.
The $150 Price Tag and What It Gets You
The EA FC 27 Ultimate Plus edition costs $149.99 on all platforms. For that price, buyers get the base game, early access starting three days before the standard release, 4,600 FC Points (the game's premium currency), a selection of Ultimate Team player packs, and a special edition kit and stadium customization items. It's the most expensive SKU EA has ever produced for a single game.
For context, the standard edition of EA FC 27 will cost $69.99 — the current baseline for AAA releases. That means the Ultimate Plus edition carries a $80 premium over the base game, a markup that EA is betting its most dedicated fans will absorb without hesitation.
Why This Price Point Exists
EA's pricing strategy reflects a broader industry trend toward tiered, high-value editions that target the most engaged players. The publisher has been gradually increasing the ceiling on its special editions for years. EA FC 24 and EA FC 25 both had Ultimate editions at $99.99, but the jump to $150 for FC 27 represents a 50% increase in just two years.
This isn't happening in a vacuum. The AI arms race across the tech industry has driven up development costs, and publishers are looking for ways to extract more revenue from their biggest fans without raising the standard $70 price point. Ultimate Team, the mode that generates the bulk of EA's post-launch revenue through card packs, remains the financial engine driving these decisions. The Ultimate Plus edition essentially front-loads what a player might spend on FC Points anyway, bundling it with early access and cosmetic items.
Who This Edition Is For
The $150 edition is clearly aimed at the EA FC player who spends heavily on Ultimate Team throughout the year. If you're the type of player who drops $50-100 on FC Points in the first month alone, the Ultimate Plus edition starts to look like a rational purchase — you're getting the points you'd buy anyway, plus early access and exclusive cosmetics, all in one transaction.
For the casual player who sticks to Kick-Off mode or Career Mode, the standard edition at $69.99 remains unchanged. The existence of the $150 SKU doesn't affect what you get for the base price. But it does signal where EA's priorities lie: the whales, not the masses.
The Skepticism That Follows
There's an uncomfortable conversation hiding in this $150 price tag. EA is effectively asking players to pay more than double the standard price for a game that, in its core gameplay, will be largely iterative. EA FC releases are annual affairs with incremental improvements — better animations, refined AI, updated rosters. The Ultimate Plus edition doesn't include any exclusive gameplay content. It's all cosmetics, currency, and early access.
This is the same publisher that has faced years of criticism over Activision-style monetization practices, and the $150 edition doesn't exactly quiet those concerns. It's a premium on convenience and virtual goods, not on game content. For players who remember when a $60 game included everything, this feels like another step away from that model.
How This Compares to the Competition
EA isn't alone in pushing premium pricing. Call of Duty has offered $100+ editions for years. NBA 2K regularly sells editions above $100. But $150 is a new watermark for a sports game, and it's worth noting that EA FC lacks a direct competitor in the licensed football space — eFootball from Konami is free-to-play and doesn't command the same audience. Without competition, EA has more room to push pricing.
Compare this to Nintendo's approach with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which launched at $69.99 with no premium editions. Or FromSoftware's Elden Ring, which offered a $79.99 edition that included a full expansion. The value proposition differs wildly across publishers, and EA's $150 edition sits at the extreme end of the spectrum.
What This Means for the Industry
The $150 EA FC 27 Ultimate Plus edition is a test. If it sells well — and given the franchise's massive player base, it almost certainly will — other publishers will take note. We're likely to see more $130-150 editions from major sports franchises and live-service games in the coming years.
The standard $70 game isn't going anywhere. But the gap between what the average player pays and what the most committed player pays is widening. EA is betting that its most loyal fans will pay a premium not for more game, but for a head start and a virtual wardrobe. Given the history of Ultimate Team spending, that bet seems safe.
For everyone else, the standard edition still exists. But the $150 edition is a reminder of where the industry's financial incentives are pointing — and it's not toward the player who buys one game a year.
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