Electronic Arts does not hesitate to remove controversial players from its sports franchises. Case in point, last September, EA dropped Benjamin Mendy from FIFA 22’s trial version following accusations of rape and sexual assault. Mendy was eventually removed from the French national team lineup, as well as Manchester City. Now, EA has pulled off another professional soccer player from FIFA 22’s roster for a similar reason.
As part of FIFA 22’s latest update, Greenwood is no longer available in FIFA 22, albeit players can still trade him on the Ultimate Team transfer market while his Ultimate Team item is still active. Meanwhile, Manchester United has also confirmed that Greenwood isn’t going to train or play in official matches for the foreseeable future.
EA’s decision to distance itself away from controversy makes a ton of sense. Even if police are still investigating the accusations lodged against Greenwood, it’s safer to sacrifice one player over an entire sports sim. By removing the striker from FIFA 22, EA had done damage control before any real issues popped up. At the moment, the Manchester United striker is out on bail.
There are several instances of the EA taking the same stance outside of Greenwood and Mendy. Back in FIFA 2020, EA removed Marco van Basten as a FUT icon for using a Nazi-related phrase in a live sports broadcast. After apologizing and explaining himself, EA brought Basten back for FIFA 21. Jens Lehmann was also absent from FIFA 21. EA never explained the reason behind this, but some speculate that it was because of Lehmann’s controversial takes on COVID-19.
In other EA news, the publisher just confirmed that the first season of Battlefield 2042 isn’t coming at least until June, the earliest. Meanwhile, the publisher is giving Respawn Entertainment the lead on at least three Star Wars projects as it completely abandons Battlefront 3.
