Electronic Arts are set to usher in a new football franchise under EA Sports FC. Looking back at the publisher’s time with the FIFA series, we can safely say there were some good and bad years. While we will know more about EA Sports FC this summer, many rumors suggest that EA is making changes and adding new features. However, with so many new ideas floating around, it’s best to discuss what the FIFA publisher can do to avoid the same mistakes it made when developing FIFA games. Here are the top 5 mistakes Electronic Arts needs to avoid in EA Sports FC.
5. Holding on to Volta Football
Our first pick might upset some fans, especially our former managing editor Mike Straw, but Volta Football needs to be left behind. When the mode debuted in 2021, fans were excited about having a street-style football mode in FIFA. However, this mode quickly became neglected by EA. Over the last two years, Volta hasn’t received many new features and hasn’t gained much popularity since its debut.
Electronic Arts’ willingness to see Volta succeed has urged the company to tie Volta to one of FIFA’s most popular modes, pro clubs. In the series’ latest release, FIFA 23, players can gain points and rewards in Volta by playing pro clubs matches. This new feature is a desperate attempt to keep Volta Football relevant.
4. Excluding Features from Other Modes
If you’re a hardcore FIFA player, you will understand the frustration of our next pick. I’m tired of seeing certain features and customizable items exclusive to one mode. For example, tattoos, masks, and certain celebrations are exclusive to only pro clubs. The FIFA community has asked for tattoos and other new customizable options in career mode for years, but EA has yet to listen.
This was very similar to The Journey, FIFA’s three-game extended story mode, where new hairstyles, clothing items, and more were only for Alex Hunter. It would be nice if EA Sports FC had all the available customization options in all suitable modes.
3. Making Another ‘The Journey’
When FIFA’s story mode debuted in 2017, there was hope that Electronic Arts were shifting its attention to more single-player focused modes like manager and player career. The Journey was a three-game-long story about Alex Hunter’s football career. The mode featured an in-depth story with choices that impacted the narrative and new customization options. Basically, it was the perfect player career mode.
My issue with The Journey is that nothing came of it in terms of helping FIFA‘s career mode reach its full potential. EA didn’t move any assets or ideas from Alex Hunter’s story to player career and manager mode, which was a missed opportunity. Once again, EA neglected career mode to focus on something else that wasn’t immensely popular with the fans.
2. Ignoring Fan Request
FIFA fans already know the pain of having their favorite mode left out in the cold when a new game is released. Every year there’s always a popular mode that hardly receives any updates or innovative features. In this year’s game, FIFA 23, pro clubs received minor updates, which left the community very frustrated with Electronic Arts.
We only wanted one significant feature to give the fans more reasons to play the game: cross-play capabilities. When the community didn’t get that feature, they created #SaveProClubs on Twitter, which gained massive support. While EA did reply to fans, we shouldn’t have to go to this length to get the company to understand we care about such modes.
This needs to stop in EA Sports FC, and Electronic Arts must focus more on innovating its most popular modes with significant updates each year. How do they do that? By listening to the community.
1. Prioritizing Ultimate Team
I don’t think FIFA‘s Ultimate Team needs any introduction. We have a mode here that has made headlines for its predatory and gambling nature. This mode makes EA massive amounts of money, so the publisher continues to pump it full of resources and new features.
In return, this leaves career mode and pro clubs secondary to EA’s plans, which shows in the overall product. I’m not saying EA should get rid of the mode, but suggesting they put the same amount of effort and creativity that you do into FUT in other modes as well. If they can apply that to EA Sports FC the game will thrive for years.
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