Since 2008's "FIFA 09," every single game in the popular "FIFA" series by EA Sports has included an "Ultimate Team" mode, which allows players to spend real-world currency to buy real-life football players, in the form of cards, and create teams with them.
For years, since the mode's introduction, FIFA fans have complained that teams composed of the highly-rated footballers that they've purchased have felt weak and clumsy. Now, based on tests done by fans, this issue may have been confirmed as a glitch.
Football players in FIFA Ultimate Team come with a "Chemistry" stat that increases depending on their configuration alongside each other on the field. Greater "Chemistry" ratings correspond to a variety of improvements to player performance.
At least, in theory - these improvements are not documented, nor are they indicated anywhere in the game.
In practice, FIFA gamers have noted that in many cases, it's felt as though their players haven't been getting any boosts from higher "Chemistry" scores. None of these feelings could be corroborated, until the introduction of a new skill in FIFA 16 that could only be used by a player if they had a certain skill level.
/u/RighteousOnix from the /r/FIFA subreddit performed some tests, and confirmed that even if his "Chemistry" rating was high enough to get the necessary skill increase, which in turn would allow for use of the skill, the skill remained unavailable to him. This meant that "Chemistry" wasn't working as intended at all.
News spread like wildfire, and the FIFA glitch soon made its way to EA Sports, who have stated that their teams are investigating the "potential fitness and chemistry inconsistency in some [FIFA Ultimate Team] items."
Later on, at the official FIFA forums, a poster by the name of Antiversum discovered that the problem may extend all the way back to FIFA 15 and 14. This is no small problem - players have spent tens of thousands of dollars over the past years on Ultimate Team, to gain advantages that may not have been applied correctly after all.
