FIFA 21 yet again reaffirmed that a new FIFA game every year isn't particularly productive. Is it time for EA to hit the breaks, and skip a year? Maybe move to an update model similar to what Konami are doing with PES?
"Same game every year" is a phrase you've surely heard, and likely said, if you are even a casual FIFA gamer. One way to avoid such comments would be to stop releasing a new game every year, and move to an update model. Here are seven reasons why that should be EA's next move.
1. Bad Game at Full Price Every Year
Let's start with the reason why EA don't want to change the system. They are charging us a full AAA price each year. That's not counting the additional money that a lot of players pour into FUT. That would be fine if each new game didn't feel like an unfinished update of the previous version.
2. No New Gameplay
We can barely count how many times EA have come up with the same old marketing campaign. Check out this brand-new dribbling system! Players can dribble, yo! Dribbling for everybody! Truth is, changing the name of the dribbling system doesn't make it unique. It just feels like year after year the developers are struggling to come up with new gameplay ideas, which is to be expected in a game when you can't change the story, the settings, or the characters.
3. VOLTA Football Is a Failure
Everyone got excited about VOLTA, until they weren't. People want their FIFA Street experience, and VOLTA Football provides none of that. Take your time and make this work, EA! It would make so many players happy.
4. Develop Pro Clubs for Esports
FIFA esports as a whole is a mess, so we're not holding our breath here. Just imagine what an 11 vs. 11 pro game would look like. Fun beyond measures that might breathe life into the pro scene. However, we don't see that ever happening.
5. Career Mode Holds So Much Potential
FIFA 21 seemingly picked up a lot on Career mode development, but it was sadly dust in the eyes of die-hard fans. The loan and buy option that was marketed as an innovation was available in FIFA 15! If there's one area where FIFA has so much room to grow, it's Career mode. Unfortunately, that's not where the money is.
- Read More: FIFA 21 TOTW 35 with Suárez, Mané
6. Can We Have a Fair Playing Field in FUT?
The cash cow is not going to be touched, so this is all a pipe dream. You can grind all day, every day and still not have half as good of a squad than someone who simply bought FIFA points. Maybe if FUT was made more accessible to those who want to play the bloody game, then it wouldn't be so hated by the neutrals. But then it wouldn't bring EA every single dollar in the world, so we know this isn't happening.
7. EA Losing Licenses
It's apparent by the shift in Serie A licences that EA aren't too keen to reinvest the profit from FIFA Ultimate Team. Four years in a row there's an Italian team signing an exclusive deal with PES. We won't have the European Championship experience in FIFA 21 too. EA have had the upper hand on Konami not so much because of gameplay, but because of authentic licences. Without that, we may see a more even battle between FIFA and PES in the coming years.
- Read More: FIFA Loses Another Team License!
Can we feasibly see the yearly FIFA releases cease? Not in a million years. And it's because of us, the consumers. If we keep buying the new game each autumn, EA are gonna keep selling it to us. Perhaps our only hope is for Konami to save us from ourselves by bringing up the competition. Imagine that: Konami saving gamers! We're doomed.
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Original article by EarlyGame's Lukas Scherbaum.
