FIFA 18’s release date is September 29 but it’s been available for those with EA Access for Xbox One and Origin Access for PC since September 21. In the run up to hitting the store shelves both digital and physical, it appears the India map on FIFA 18 does not include the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Where has this omission taken place? Well, one of FIFA’s signature modes is FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT). This mode lets you create your own squad of players from scratch and turn them into world beaters. FIFA 18 adds a twist to the formula with Squad Battles, wherein you can pit your ultimate team versus those created by celebrities, footballers, EA itself, or even other players. It’s when playing against other players in Squad Battles that it was noticed that the India map used to denote an opponent’s location was missing Jammu and Kashmir.
Gadgets 360 has been able to verify this. Keep in mind that in Squad Battles, your opponents refresh every 12 hours or so and are randomised, so the chances of seeing this faux pas aren’t very high, which explains why it took so long to be discovered. Since Squad Battles just uses statistics from other ultimate teams, you aren’t playing online as you normally would, just against an AI-controlled team with the same traits and abilities as it was honed by its human creator with the map assigned as per a player’s location.
A request for comment from FIFA 18 publisher EA remained unanswered at the time of publishing this story and there’s even an online petition requesting this to be fixed.
Considering that EA conscientiously decided not to bring Dragon Age: Inquisition to the country citing “local content laws”, you’d think the company would be a little more considerate. Though chances are this could be rectified with a simple update
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