FIFA 19 Cover Star Under Fire Following Serious Allegation, EA "Closely Monitoring" Situation

Are they going to do a product recall

Yeah, but did they release a new version of FIFA 16?

If they did, they don't measure by the same yardstick: Cristiano Ronaldo was convicted for tax fraud too, and it happened before the release of FIFA 19. Why didn't they take actions?

I don't buy any of this. Obviously there is concern, but they won't change anything, and the game with his picture is already in stores.

EA: “In a manner that is consistent with EA's values.”

LOLMAO!

Innocent until proven guilty.

inocent until proven guilty

Hopefully he’s innocent of this allegation.

@SuperGhirahim64 I didn't even know Messi was dropped. What happened? Did they patch him out of digital versions or what? The cover can't be altered.

For people who says he's innocent until proven guilty, well, for tax fraud he was found guilty, and that would be enough reason, but for the sexual assault, the thing is his image has been damaged, so it hurts EA too.

If he were an actor or a politician he would be forced to step down (not in the US, I know) in oder to not hurt the team/party until the matter was cleared up. Let's see.

@Godlike_Virus You’re so ignorant. #MeToo isn’t about blindly believing any accusation - it’s about giving both parties an equal footing when it comes to allegations.

It’s not ‘guilty until proven innocent’. What this means, is that there will be a more in depth focus into his life. If he didn’t do anything wrong, he has nothing to hide. He isn’t firmly guilty or innocent at this point.

Saying this woman wants an easy pay off is so degrading, especially if the allegations are true. Shame on you.

@moltakfire
You only have to look at @Moroboshi876 ‘s last comment to see where that leads.

Innocent until proven guilty.

This is an awful situation. Ronaldo has already been dropped from his national team. Kind of random to drop your best player like that if these allegations really are baseless.

I don't know how EA can suddenly change the cover now. I guess moving forward all new copies of the game can cut Ronaldo. But they can't do anything about the millions already on the market. It won't be fair to diss EA over this.

Ronaldo may or may not be guilty. The girl may or may not be lying (although she did report an incident to the Police at the time so it isn't out of nowhere). Paying someone off does not make you automatically guilty as you may just be trying to avoid the press ruining your career. I will wait and see what actual evidence shows.

Also don't use this as an excuse to slag off EA as it demeans the seriousness of the alleged crime.

This is all I am saying.

I read about the allegations two years ago. The alleged victim reached an out-of-court settlement with Ronaldo involving a $375,000 (£288,000) payment for agreeing never to go public with the allegations. Guess she did! Fact is that EA knew about these allegations before they signed Christiano. So they are only worried if the case will damage their brand. EA's values is to release the same game every year to print money

Have to stress this one because it looks like it's not clear enough.
So let me write it in CAPS for you all, spelling it slowly.

INNOCENT - UNTILL - PROVEN - GUILTY

Not vice-versa.

@Fandabidozi Yeah, it's too early to get annoyed at EA. I mean, I hate the company just as much as the next guy, but they're trying to protect their brand from any potential blow back. Given she filed a police report at the time, there might be some truth there, but we don't have enough information to start calling him an abuser. On the same note, we don't have enough information to call her a liar.

Some people forget that, as a public, we only see a small portion of the whole story. We shouldn't jump to conclusions, but we should also be willing to hear all sides.

If true, it's going to be much harder for her to prove it 9 years later. The only reason Weinstein and Cosby were caught many years later of their wrong doing is because there were many women coming out about it. Unless that ends up happening here, it doesn't seem likely he'll be found guilty whether it happened or not.

"EA's values." Hahahahaha.

@moltakfire In practice it often is "guilty until proven innocent" though. Unless the accused is a woman, especially one that used the hashtag herself.
It's trial by social opinion basically.

You'll have to unlock a special item through paid lootboxes to remove him from the cover.

Does this site do any original reporting? I knew upon reading the header that you'd just copied Eurogamer's article and sure enough you did. If you'd bothered to research you'd have noticed that Nike also made a statement.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45753889

Quality reporting and journalism. Meanwhile NintendoLife have posted another clickbait story. This story about Ronaldo in relation to gaming is tenuous. If he goes down, who cares? EA will just put someone else on the cover. And NL hardly are concerned about everyones favourite developer and publisher, EA. As I said this is a clickbait story, it's what this site does best.

This site just seems to rehash stories from other sites, often very late and lacking detail.

Oh my goodness....
So many scandals....

@TheGhostWhoWalks

Everyone is reporting on this. And what the hell does NIKE have to do with a videogame website?

@SBandy I've seen you over on Eurogamer, you're a nasty piece of work. Your comment above only further cements my opinion.

@SmaggTheSmug Well, apparently stats have suggested false reports are at around 2% to 10%. A lot of the time, victims don't come forward, don't get their voice heard, or get strong armed into dropping it.

Yes, trial by social opinion is horrible. And if the allegations are false, the woman would have contributed to ruining the career of an innocent man. But if they are true, she'd get the right to see her abuser charged.

I agree with you that a lot of the time, social media plays judge/jury/executioner, which is wrong. I'd rather things like this were dealt with in private, with the outcome made public. But that would mean women/men that have also been affected by an abuser may not have the strength/support to also come forward.

@TheGhostWhoWalks

Haha, everyone is free to go see my comments on Eurogamer. If you think I am a nasty piece of work you must live a very sheltered life!

seems nowadays anyone can come up and claim something bad happened like 25 years ago. anyone ever thought these people could have been paid by someone who wants to ruin somebodys life? they should come forth immediately and not years later when there is no evidence to back it up. True or not, it will always put a stain on a persons reputation.

@Snow-Dust Economic Values they mean :3

@SBandy Anything is good when it comes to slaging on EA! I’d blame them for the ozone layer hole if I Could !!!

I dont know whats going on. He could be guilty or innocent. Who knows.

But I do know I'm getting tired of this culture where allegations are enough to ruin someone.

Don't like someone? Just make an allegation.

@SuperEndriu It doesn't need to be money to convince someone. The thing with the US judge being accuses right as he was about to enter supreme court looks like a straight up political move. Just throwing a hard to prove (and subsequently hard to defend from) accusation to tarnish his reputation enough to bar him from the job and secure the position for a non-Republican candidate.

I hope he's guilty

Wow. The attitude towards women in the comment section really reinforces stereotypes about gamers. Real good job guys. How can this be an allegation just to 'tarnish his reputation' or whatever when she reported it to police almost 10 years ago?

@Lameborghini

Why?

@Lameborghini

i hope he's not and she get's sued for everything she has for name smearing.

@Guiltygear

Why?

@Guiltygear, @Lameborghini

You are both sides of the same coin.

Women are assaulted by men every minute of every day. Time to wake up and listen when women speak out. If the dude is innocent he'll be cleared, don't sweat it. Let's not act like men are the victims now because women finally have a voice.

If women have just finally got a voice, who's been doing all that nagging for the past n thousand years, amirite fellas, eh?

@SBandy why?

@SBandy thank you, i feel so much... the same.

Let’s put this s@&t situation in perspective. What’s worst- a woman getting abused by the world’s richest footballer and only having the courage to come forward 10 years later or a woman making false accusations for money? I hope for her sake (and Ronaldo) that the accusations are false and she gets found out because surely that’s better than the other option, right? But I fear the accusations may be true and that there are many more unreported incidents of this nature. Women need to be supported and couraged to report these bad bad things so let’s not accuse anyone of anything until the courts have their say.

@Lameborghini

Because you both want Ronaldo found guilty or innocent based purely on your personal preference of him and nothing else.

@SuperWeird

Just like Brian Banks was cleared. After 5 Years in prison.

Much better to follow the rule of law, take both sides as truthful, and rule after the case has been fairly investigated.

@SBandy Oh i don't even like Ronaldo at this point i just find #Metoo pathethic. She first grabs a bag of money to hush which she accepts and now she rides the metoo train because her money is dipping low.

Al of this happened in a hotel room. Slap some sense in me if you will but if you don't want sex maybe don't go with into a hotel room. It's all screams i want attention and money and nothing more.

@Guiltygear @SBandy sadly this #MeToo thing has turned into a witch hunt and a platform for opportunists.

@Guiltygear

Yeah but that is all rumour and speculation. We should wait for actual evidence.

I don't know if he did it or not or if she is lying or not, and as a Liverpool fan I have no love for the man, but we don't know.

My view is if he did abused her, if, I don't care if he paid her a billion quid he should go to jail.

@Lameborghini @Guiltygear

But is has also unfortuantely, and ironically, made it harder for genuine cases to be treated seriously.

Like I said I want to wait for the actual evidence first.

@SBandy if he's guilty he's guilty and should pay like any mortal. But for the sake of destroying the stupid which hunt that is #Metoo i hope he is not.

Get evidence, then talk, not this social media kjbhwdiuhofpnwh gvajomk drama. Because in the end the result is the same if he is guilty, jail. However it is not the same if he is innocent because the name smearing and it's effect is already in full.

The #metoo movement is one of the best things to come out of social media. Victims/survivors don’t lie.

Now I bet someone will pull an example of the 1 out of every gadrillion times there is a false report. Why are men so eager and unsettled by this?

@Godlike_Virus what an idiot. I assume you know very little of football. Ronaldo has been on the cover a lot, not just this year. That's because he's one of the highest rated players in the world, perhaps the highest. This isn't some opportunistic accusation because he's suddenly made a game cover. It's because of who he is that the woman probably didn't report anything for years. He's a massively respected individual. That means he holds all the power. Who would believe her? It's not until other similar high profile cases have come to light that she found the courage to speak out too, with the #MeToo movement. Perhaps instead of accusing women of trying to make bank on accusing rich men, you should think about the reasons why these women don't speak up.

I really hope for his sake he isn't guilty, but at the same time, for the sake of the movement and other victims, I hope the accuser isn't lying.

@SBandy You spend all your time arguing with and calling people names both here and at Eurogamer. Your first comment was preemptive calling people "d1ckh€@ds" before anyone even said anything. You were looking for an argument. You called me a name as well in your response.

Guess who has the most comments in this story? YOU! What a coincidence. This is my last post on the story. I bet you'll carry on though.

Of course the mods won't take any action though I'm sure, even though you blatantly break the rules. People like you and other trolls here are why I hardly ever frequent this site. That and how poorly this site reports and is late with news. I guarantee other respectable Nintendo sites won't be reporting on this clickbait. They focus on real gaming news.

I’ll admit I’ve done some rather deplorable things in my past but overall I still think #metoo is a good thing. It’s good to finally have a voice. Men need to be educated and taught to show empathy. If I could go back I’d change everything to be a better person but for now I’m just happy for the women who have to deal with this BS won’t be ignored.

@TheGhostWhoWalks

Ah well I am sure we will all manage without you!

@needmorecowbell
Would you say that if you were on the wrong end of an abuse accusation.

"Victims/survivors" are capable of lying, just like everyone else. The law needs to decide, based on facts, not feelings.

This really shouldn't be public knowledge in my opinion and Ronaldo IS innocent until proven guilty whatever your perspective of this is. When it comes to abuse / paedophilia false allegations can utterly destroy the person in the firing line... just a big mess for everyone involved. Horrible horrible situation

"EA's values" fell over laughing.

The new standard has been set, when your whole life can be ruined because somebody accuses you of trying to cop a feel 36 years ago while you were in high school.

It's gonna get way worse before it gets better.

@JaxonH Very true. In fact, over a decade ago I had a false allegation of harassment against me in the workplace from an employee at another location. It almost prevented me from getting a promotion. Luckily, the manager interviewing me realized I knew nothing about this and didn't act further. Not one year later, the accuser and her supervisor were fired for sexual misconduct in the workplace. (An affair that'd been going on for a couple months)

@kyleforrester87

I shouldn't have laughed, but I did lol

@Baker1000 Actually, the accusation isn't new. It's from 9 years ago, and was followed by a police report and a settlement.

EA's values... Pfffft

You people always forget the "in the court of law" part of that saying. Public opinion is a whole other ball game.

@Switcher If you took the time to read my comment, you'd realise I didn't say he was guilty at all.

@moltakfire Your comment literally states "He isn't FIRMLY guilty or innocent at this point".... But yet, according to US law, he is FIRMLY innocent UNTIL proven guilty.

@Switcher Dyslexia? You realise any comment regarding handicap is against community rules, right?

My statement about him being neither guilty nor innocent is about logic. He can't be labelled guilty because of the law, and the state of the allegations. He can't be labelled innocent yet (regardless of the state of the investigation) because any allegation like this has to be treated with the same discretion as any other case.

If I was you, I'd take some time to follow up on the rules of the website, and learn how to be a nicer human.

The MeToo thingy has certainly helped bring to the forefront a lot of dirty stuff that needed to be changed, but also proved to be a platform for attention seekers and people who have exploited that system for years and are now finding lucrative to rebel to that system.
A few months ago a young american actor accused an italian actress of abused him and forcing him to have sex with her. Now, I don't know much about the distorted world of celebrities but I find it very hard to believe that a popular and attractive 35 year old woman could abuse a 19 year old not-as-popular not-as-good-looking kid. With that I just want to say that it's very hard to tell what's reality and what's imagination, and the line between sexual consent and physical assault is getting twisted and turned.
On Ronaldo I don't know. I personally thought he was gay.

@moltakfire,

It has made everything more amplified though,I have no issues with the more serious cases,but as with justice it is innocent until proven guilty,this is of course very hard when the accused is revealed and people tend to make up their own minds no matter what the eventual verdict.

We have imo become an over sensetive society where a simple touch on the are can been seen in the wrong way,and the MeeTwo movement has not helped with this imo.

@bratzdoll I've filtered out 7 folks to my Ignore list, so the comment section has a positive effect sometimes

@moltakfire,

I think you need to check the forum rules,I am not sure you can call people "douchebag" on here.

@johnvboy I do agree that it's hard to navigate things like this. I mean, #MeToo was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it gave victims the confidence to stand up, and opened a lot of eyes to the nature of these crimes. On the other hand, it increased the number of false accusations, and amplified the damage inflicted on unproven cases.

Mob mentality is never a good thing, but we should also treat every allegation as seriously as we can. At the end of the day though, we're not judges. Only the law can decide what happens to the people involved.

@johnvboy Not sure why you're defending someone who's using dyslexia as an insult. A douchebag is someone who is obnoxious, while dyslexia is an actual learning difficulty. You're on the wrong side of this.

@moltakfirem,

You are correct,but it did need to happen imo,and as with everything good you will get some bad things that go with it.

@moltakfire,

Not defending you or him,but if he wants to resort to name calling leave him to it...

I did mean to put an on my comment as it was light hearted in nature.

@johnvboy Yeah, I mean, social media has helped in a big way. But it's also the single most damaging output method from sexual assault allegations. As I said, I'd rather it were all private for the courts, with a public verdict, but that's not how it works, hah.

@moltakfire,

I think it's unfair in all cases for ther accused to be named and shamed before a verdict is reached.

That goes for everybody,famous or not.

ea always getting into some sort of trouble.

@PrincessBowsette

Wise up.

Breaking news: Sports star has no respect for women as people. eyeroll

What comes of it comes of it. I know nothing about the facts behind this allegation, nor even who this guy is (get that soccer nonsense out of my 'Murica). But I will admit that just looking at the guy's picture, I am predisposed to believe that there are probably several encounters in his life where he took a girl to his room and unceremoniously pushed her/pressured her into sex because he's Christiano bleeping Ronaldo and he deserves/is entitled to it.

@DawgP,

Can work both ways fella.

@johnvboy I don't know what that means... What's working both ways? >.<;

@SBandy its the truth dood ea does get themselves into this mess if since they pick the players to be on the cover of these games.

"We have seen the concerning report that details allegations against Cristiano Ronaldo. We are closely monitoring the situation, as we expect cover athletes and ambassadors to conduct themselves in a manner that is consistent with EA's values."

Considering raping the public and demonstrating a complete lack of respect for absolutely anyone is pretty much their thing, this is cool then, right?

Seriously though this is getting rediculous. While I'd never doubt for a second some sports star is a rapist, we've degraded into a now, apparently, international society where accusation = guilt, and the quickest way to destroy or seek revenge upon anyone is simply to accuse them of the unthinkable and they are instantly blacklisted from society. And while it's perfectly believable a sports star is an obnoxious unethical lowlife, it pays to keep in mind such people also keep the company of similar such people, so who knows who is abusing who for what. Accusation = guilt is what happens in totalitarian police states. We've managed to duplicate the effect by a court of public opinion without the need for an all knowing secret police to do the dirty work. Maybe he's guilty, maybe he's not, but this shouldn't even be under discussion in the public sphere at all until it has been investigated.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to save the world from black magic by exposing a few witches I know. I can prove it if allowed the opportunity to burn them.

@DawgP,

Well you stated you knew very little of the case in your comment,but then went on to say by only looking at the accused,you are "predisposed" into thinking he looked like he would do this type of thing,which is of course a ludicrous conclusion to jump to.

So I stated it could also be that somebody could see a famous person as an easy target for such an accusation...not saying this is what has happened in this particular case..but you have to keep an open mind.

@johnvboy Gotcha. That's more or less the thing I was getting at; hanging the metaphorical lantern on my bias, if you will. I would hardly be a qualified juror in this case.

@DawgP,

I hope you are not on the jury for my witch trial.

@Switcher Awh, what's up... had enough of using disability as an insult? Enjoy the ignore list (and yeah, go over those community rules, I'm sure they'll help you in the future)!

EA, king(queen) of fraudulent loot boxes, is sayin' whaaaat?

@NEStalgia Fun Fact; Salem was thrown into mass chaos when Tim Curry appeared and kept insisting that everyone floats.

@1UP_MARIO Sadly, the age of social media has everyone looking at the system in the opposite way.

WOW, this comment section is just........ Man.-_- Seriously, can't we all just agree to let the court decide who is wrong and who is right instead of getting into heated arguments about who should be blamed and/or punished?

@JaxonH "Don't like someone? Just make an allegation and be willing to put up with hundreds of death threats."

FTFY

@PanurgeJr
If the juice is worth the squeeze...

@edhe Please reread my entire comment and try next time not to take it out of context. Once in a blue moon, a false accusation occurs. Again, I pose the question: Why are so many men eager to base their beliefs/opinions on extreme outliers when it comes to victims’ claims?

To any men feeling victimized by any of this, I've got one thing to say to you; stop being such a snowflake. Be a real man, grow a pair, and stand up women's rights.

@johnvboy you'll be fine; just don't do anything or appear in a way or just exist such that I arbitrarily decide I don't like you. Oh, but don't be so inoffensive that I think that means you're suspicious.

@JaxonH If you're going to assume such a glib tone about sexual assault I can only assume you don't have a daughter, or a sister, or a wife, or a girlfriend, or a mom, or any woman in your life whatsoever.

It’s insane the times we live in now where all a woman has to do is make an accusation and instantly certain people assume guilt before hearing any details or having any corroboration. So long days of innocent until proven guilty, from now on you’re guilty until you can prove your innocence... smh

It is a horrible crime for sure, but I cant't help thinking why she only mentioned the perpetrator was a European football player instead of just saying the truth... and then wait 10 years to make allegations... even after she accepted money. While #metoo has been a good thing to get justice, some women have misused the campaign for their own financial benefit or even worse... the women themselves have been perpetrators.

@PanurgeJr
Regardless of how you perceive my tone, I do take the matter seriously.

But I also take the power to ruin someone's life on a whim (be it motivated by revenge, money or personal beliefs) equally seriously. And we need more protections against that

I propose all claims be investigated, but if it be discovered the allegations are false, the accuser be sentenced to the same time the falsely accused would have served had they been conviced on those false charges.

I think that's a fair counterbalance.

Nah, it's just poor people being thieves.

@HobbitGamer fair enough, I didn't know about the settlement...so that implies some sort of guilt? Anyway, my point still stands that women don't report sexual assault against powerful men for fear of not being believed. And the posters original claim that she is trying to make money off him is still problematic and unhelpful.

@Nickster076 yeah could you not use the word "rape" in that sense though? It's kind of diluting the seriousness of the crime. Same goes for when people say "facebook rape/frape" when a friend gets into their account without permission for a joke. Rape is not a joke, nor is it the act of someone simply doing anything you dislike without your permission.

Ea's Values?

The People who told the press officer to release that statement should be shot in the face.

and I don't mean with a gun.

@SmaggTheSmug

Exactly! Once the case is being discussed in the media people will never forget

Lol: Update incoming. Now he will be removed. Female player incoming, also on the box-art. That's the modern world for ya...