I also think MUT hasn't been good since 12. It jumped the shark when it became obvious and almost insulting that all they cared about was making money off of it. I mean, that was always the purpose of Ultimate Team. But at least in 12, they did a decent job masking it.
Cards were worth more to sell, collections didn't have 40+ cards in them, and they didn't have these ultra, special, only available for 5 days, cards that you basically HAD to play for if you wanted any shot at them. The most challenging thing in 12 became getting the bronze cards...which maybe seemed stupid, but it was better balanced than the way it is now.
Ultimate Team used to actually be about collecting cards and completing collections. Now, it's about giving EA as much of your money as possible. This is a direct quote from EA's financial reports on EA.com.
I seriously doubt MUT revenue is growing 90% each year from more people playing. It's from them finding new ways to get into your wallet. Most likely, I won't touch MUT this year. I'm much happier saving $20 on the game by pre-ordering it from Kmart, lol.