EA has issued permanent bans to a number of FIFA 13 players for attempting to manipulate the in-game economy of the popular Ultimate Team mode. Ultimate Team was temporarily taken offline earlier this week so that EA could "restore a level playing field", but the service is now back up and running."Earlier this week, a very small number of users attempted to gain an unfair advantage by manipulating coins," EA explained.
"To ensure a fair economy for all our users we decided to take FUT offline in order to restore a level playing field.
"We take issues like this very seriously," it added. "Permanent bans for FIFA 13 have been served to all users who attempted to gain an unfair advantage.
"We would like to thank you, the community, for your patience during the downtime. We'll continue to maintain the best experience for all fans of FIFA 13: Ultimate Team."
Earlier this week EA released a FIFA 13 title update introducing fixes for issues including freezes and invisible balls.