Ex-FIFA professional player Kurt ‘Kurt0411’ Fenech thought he had gotten around his ban from the game by streaming under a new name, but the developers have moved quickly to shut down his new account.
The content creator was hit with a permanent ban on February 24, which was supposed to prevent him from playing all EA games, following a number of violations of the developers’ Code of Conduct, per their official statement. As a result of the ban, Kurt’s original 10-year plus FUT Founder account was shut down.
After revealing a video titled ‘Moving Forward’ on his YouTube channel, he had since went live on Twitch and continued to stream the game with a new account on March 2 – therefore getting around the ban, temporarily at least.
The following day, the banned player revealed that EA have moved swiftly to ban his new account, so he cancelled his scheduled morning stream. He revealed as much on Twitter.
“Imagine banning a new account of someone who brought in 15k viewers to your game after you literally told me I have to make a new one. The amount of pettiness this company has is next level,” he tweeted.
Apologies, no stream this morning. Imagine banning a new account of someone who brought in 15k viewers to your game after you literally told me I have to make a new one 🤣🤣. The amount of pettiness this company has is next level….I'll catch you guys tonight 👍
— Kurt (@Kurt0411Fifa) March 3, 2020
He was given quite a fright during his initial broadcast, when he was scrolling through his FUT transfer list to see if any of his cards had been sold.
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Much to the surprise of him and his chat, a message from EA suddenly appeared on-screen. Clearly anticipating a ban notification, the streamer was relieved to see that it was just a standard, run-of-the-mill note about Ultimate Team Rules of Play.
“I swear to God, chat, that’s a ban right?” he said, before noticing what it really was. “I swear to God that I thought it that said ban. I swear to God. I just sh*t myself. You sh*t yourself man.”
He scrolled through the Rules of Play message, which states coin distribution can lead to offending accounts being at risk, along with their official rules on buying and selling FUT coins. Despite earlier fears, it clearly wasn’t a ban notification so he could continue the stream.
At the time, it was his understanding that by creating a new account he would be able to continue playing – as seen in his posts and YouTube content – although he has since been struck with another account ban.
Whether or not the former FIFA pro player will create another profile in order to continue playing remains to be seen. It’s possible that EA will continue to take action to prevent Kurt playing FIFA 20 and other titles developed by the company, should more accounts be made.