Several days ago an illegal cryptocurrency mining factory made up of numerous Playsttion 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles was found. They were drawing power directly from the public electricity grid to power CPUs, graphics and 3 8000 PlayStation 4 Slim consoles, and an investigation saw that they weren't mining cryptocurrencies, but FIFA 21 Ultimate Team players.
This part of their business was seen when the consoles had a FIFA 21 disc, which is not necessary when you dedicate yourself to mining cryptocurrencies with a console. It would be a ridiculous and unnecessary expense, apart from the fact that a console with 2012 hardware is not ideal to mine no matter how much a farm with thousands of units is made.
[amazon box=»B08BGMR2NC» title=»FIFA 21″ star_rating=»none» template=»table»]FIFA 21 would give more money than cryptocurrencies
The farm was used to earn in-game money and / or get rare characters. Farm operators could sell these accounts for money. FIFA 21 has its Ultimate Team mode that theoretically allows players to build a team of dream players using loot cards. The loot boxes they can be purchased with in-game currency or real money. The caveat is that the chance of getting a truly powerful character is less than 1%, so it is possible to spend a lot of money and not get a decent player. Meanwhile, obtaining the in-game currency is time consuming as it requires a lot of effort and repetitive tasks. This has been heavily criticized by players, but it still continues because it is a mode that encourages players to play throughout the year.
Apparently, what those PlayStation 4 Slim were doing was the equivalent of mining cryptocurrencies, but with FIFA 21 Ultimate Team players being controlled by PCs and a neural network. Holders could sell accounts filled with in-game currency to players who want to have a rare player without having to buy loot boxes, or attempt to obtain those rare players themselves. With these accounts they could then transfer the character to their main account. They were practically making thousands of consoles play the FIFA 21 lottery constantly, and without paying for electricity.
With 500 graphics cards in its hands and free power, the same farm could also mine Ethereum. Meanwhile, the same 500 graphics cards could control characters in other games to train them, and get in-game money alongside loot boxes.
Source: Tom's Hardware
