This month, rumors swirled over what old sports franchise EA might reveal ahead of its EA Play Live event. Might we see the return of EA Sports BIG with a new NBA Street? Did the hype over a promising new boxing game force an early reveal of a new Fight Night? There was a lot of excitement leading up to Tuesday’s presentation, which made it even more deflating when EA premiered a deep dive on FIFA 22’s new Hypermotion technology. This begs the question: will Hypermotion change EA Sports games as we know them?
SGO soccer football expert Curtis Russell joined this week’s SGO Press Pass to weigh in on exactly that. Curtis shared his thoughts on whether Hypermotion could fundamentally change how EA Sports games feel. He was not super optimistic.
SGO Press Pass: Will Hypermotion Change EA Sports?
Jake Jacobson: So… so let’s say, hypothetically, they deliver on this, right? It is what they say it is.
Curtis Russell: FIFA 22 as a whole?
Jake: Well… yeah, I guess I don’t want to hold you to that question because I’m sure there’s still a lot more we’re going to learn about FIFA 22 before the game comes out, right?
Curtis: Yeah.
Jake: If this Hypermotion technology stuff, if it … noticeably affects how the game feels. Do you think it is interesting enough that it’s going to change the way that EA games play? Or … the way soccer is, is this just a soccer thing?
Curtis: Hypermotion… I just still think it’s just … a term they use to just get all those people on the field, to just add in all those animations. …it’s a good base. It’s a good base to the game, but here’s the thing about that Jake: I have accepted that FIFA’s gameplay is crap from the jump.
Jake: Sure [laughs]
Curtis: I already don’t like it. I have accepted that … it’s gonna get better every year, a little bit.
Mike Straw: How do you really feel?
Jake: No, but this is what I want to hear though. This is what I’m curious about.
Curtis: Like I was getting to, when it comes to the career mode, player career, maybe even seasons… throwing in all those things that everyone wants, that’s what I feel like I will really judge this game off of, and if it’s going to be a success. Like I said with FIFA 2017, the Alex Hunter thing was great because it showed that the Frostbite Engine, while it might not be an engine for sports games, they were able to make these new things with this Alex Hunter story. And it’s like, could you… move this over to the Player Career and improve on that. That’s all I wanna see FIFA do is improve.
eFootball, Axis Football 21, and More
Today’s SGO Press Pass also tackles Konami’s shift from PES to the free-to-play eFootball and recaps the new NBA 2K22 details. We also gave a first look at gameplay in the upcoming Axis Football 21.
The SGO Press Pass is the flagship podcast on Sports Gamers Online. Managing Editor Mike Straw and Senior Writer Jake Jacobson recap and discuss the top sports game news stories live every Wednesday at 8:30 PM EDT on our Youtube channel. If you like the podcast, consider supporting the site by becoming an SGO Insider.