Following the split from FIFA, EA Sports is gearing up to launch its first title outside the iconic soccer franchise by releasing EA Sports FC. With FIFA announcing that it will continue to release games with a different publisher, EA Sports FC has a lot of pressure to be successful, especially with the new influx of soccer games being developed. With games like GOALS and UFL attempting to break into the scene, EA Sports FC should focus on what made old FIFA titles so popular, the Career Mode, to give itself a leg-up against the competition.
The two newest additions to the soccer gaming world, GOALS and UFL, are gearing themselves to provide players with a fair online experience without loot boxes or pay-to-win tactics to allow their skills to shine. Along with this, Konami’s eFootball is also picking up traction as the game continues to be updated to fix the major issues that arose soon after its launch. So, EA Sports FC would have a lot of competition if it put its energy towards giving players better online experiences, and instead, should focus on making Career Mode as good as it can be for players.
EA Sports' Competitors
GOALS and UFL are the two newcomers to the soccer scene, but with FIFA announcing that it will continue to create soccer games, and Konami’s game gaining traction, soccer fans will have no shortage of games to play. Not much has been revealed about the next title in the FIFA franchise, although the company says that it will be releasing Web 3.0 Blockchain titles along with a full-feature FIFA title in the coming years. This will not only allow FIFA to release more titles within a single year, but it will use various platforms, including mobile, to gain more engagement from its fans and create a massive online community.
Unfortunately for FIFA, both GOALS and UFL are gaining a lot of followers, mainly due to the lackluster online game modes released by FIFA in recent years. Further, following the rocky start for Konami’s eFootball, the game is finally gaining traction by fixing many of the issues that plagued the title with better gameplay mechanics, fewer bugs and glitches, and more player animations. On top of all this, eFootball, GOALS, and UFL are all free-to-play and promise to deliver the game that soccer fans have always wanted.
EA Sports FC Should Go Back To Its Roots
With all these games focused on free-to-play online game modes, EA Sports FC needs to refocus its games back to Career Mode, the game mode that first popularized its earlier FIFA titles. In recent years, EA Sports and FIFA have focused more of its efforts on FUT and other online game modes, leaving Career Mode to become stale across the many titles. While FIFA 23 did manage to fix some of these issues in Career Mode, ultimately, the game mode did not offer anything new, rather it introduced many old features such as the new match sim.
Focusing on Career Mode for EA Sports FC means adding new features that would change the way players approach managing their teams. Bringing more customizability to Player Career and Create-A-Club would be a great way to let fans gain more control over their teams and created players, adding more duties for the manager, such as managing sponsors, stadiums, and staff could give the game mode more depth. Further, bringing VOLTA back and giving it a more concrete offline game mode would also give players a lot more to do in EA Sports FC.
As the soccer gaming world braces for the vast number of new games announced, EA Sports finds itself in a difficult position following the split from FIFA. With games like GOALS and UFL focused on giving the community online game modes that have been requested and allowing the community to aid with the development, EA Sports FC will need to switch its focus to its offline game modes. Career Mode, Player Career, VOLTA, and Create-A-Club are the best bet EA Sports FC has to release a game that can confidently stand up against all its competitors, new and old.
EA Sports FC is currently in development.