Unable to play purchased game due to an issue with Microsoft & EA

I registered to post this as it is my last chance of trying to get something done.

I also wanted to warn people about what could happen if you buy digital games.

I’m posting this as both an open complaint to EA & Microsoft as well as a warning to everyone about the coming all digital future I purchased FIFA 15 for Xbox One in 2014 digitally via the Xbox store for £58.49. The game at some point reverted to the trial
version and the Xbox store, Microsoft website and console all clearly state I do not own it. The funny thing is I can see it under owned games in the Xbox app on iOS, yet when I install it via the app it is the EA Play “version” and not my purchased version.

After a multitude of phone call to Microsoft I finally found someone who was understanding and felt he could deal with my problem. They checked my account and found that my license for the game existed and the purchase had not been refunded or voided in
anyway. They also confirmed my account was in good standing. They attempted to re-add the game to my library but it wasn’t there to add it (probably due to it being delisted). They said that most likely issue was that the game files were not available for
the version I purchased or there was an issue authenticating it, both of which fall to EA as they control the game files etc. They apologised and said there was nothing more they could do and that I needed to contact EA, which I did.

On speaking to EA support and they told me the game doesn’t work on the Series S or X, despite being on EA Access, and that they cannot do anymore and I need to get Microsoft to generate a new key (something Microsoft cannot do apparently). They then said
they were disconnecting the chat, despite me asking for it to be escalated (they couldn’t understand the problem at all).

In trying to get this resolved I’ve so far made about 10 phone calls lasting around 10-15 hours, emailed Phil Spencer, Satya Nadella and Andrew Wilson (twice each and zero response), Tweeted Phil Spencer, EA support, Xbox support and Major Nelson all with
no reply.

Currently I still don’t have my game and I’m not sure I can do anymore other than write the money off and lose the game permanently or pay for Gmae Pass and play it via EA Play (somewhat ironic paying a subscription to play a game I have already purchased).

Interestingly someone at Microsoft support told me it has been known for games to disappear once in a while, which should serve as a warning to anyone buying digital games on Xbox thinking they will always be able to play them.

I’m not holding out any hope anyone from EA or Microsoft will do anything to fix this but if nothing else I hope it warns people of what can happen.

:)