The recent release of EA Sports FC 24 has brought the end to an era of a partnership between EA and FIFA to bring the latest version of the most popular football video game, and whilst this first title hasn’t done much to show any difference to the long running series, there is now an opportunity for either EA or a future FIFA partner to start pushing major changes to the most successful sports games series out there.
But which are the most desired features amongst players, and how likely are these to be implemented within the game?
Licensing – Fans who have played the game for long enough are all too familiar with the missing teams, missing players, and missing cups from the game with some even being made up entirely. This was a huge feature of Konami’s eFootball formerly known as Pro Evo to avoid licensing issues, but the FIFA titled has experienced the same issues over time.
It’s no surprise that this will come as perhaps the biggest feature, fans globally love to play as their favorite teams, and whilst wagering on the real games through Betmaster, the most comprehensive betting website, many would hope that they have the opportunity to play as their favorite teams and players too which isn’t always the case. More licensing, not less.
AI Commentary – This is actually quite a strange one but one that has become possible in recent years, and that’s a bit more flavor to the in-game commentary. With current restrictions, only a certain number of lines, catch phrases, and limited play by play can be recorded, but over a few hours the commentary for many can become stale.
This is where AI may play a huge role, if agreements can be made it could make the commentary much more responsive to what’s actually happening and add some more flavor. Whilst it is just a voice in the background, it can make a tremendous difference during long play sessions and could be something that transforms the game too.
Poor foul play – Creating a nuanced system within a video game that can replicate realistic calls that a referee would make in the game is quite impossible, but that isn’t to say improvements can’t be made on the current systems. Obviously there are some bugs in the game when a defender comes sliding along the floor and Mach 2 before disappearing into the stands, but more obvious fouls should be handled better within the game.
Others have called for more control over how your actively controller character responds to a challenge too, if being shoved around should a player have the control to essentially dive and appeal to the ref? Again that opens some more difficulties with implementation, but as the games have remained so similar for so long, a small change like this could be significant.
More watching, less playing – With the introduction of Manager Career Mode, the game has introduced features that have been a huge part of games like Football Manager for a long time, but not everybody has the time or desire to play out a full match after all of the planning, or even the skill to transform strategy into a win. Having the ability to watch the team rather than playing as the team could introduce yet another layer to the game.
Players who want one thing over another shouldn’t have to substitute with an entirely different game, particularly as the ability likely already exists within the game!
The future of football video games is currently up in the air after the divorce between FIFA and EA, so there is an opportunity for lots of excitement in the video game market moving forward, but it has to be done right as fans have been let down year after year with the FIFA series failing to deliver on even many of the basics.