Main new feature, “Rush” mode allows you to play as a single member of a team in 5v5 matches, emphasizing playing with friends, with the aim of “creating something new and refreshing », explained Sam Rivera, head of development, in a series which sometimes struggles to renew itself.
To model all of the approximately 19,000 footballers, the development team, which numbers more than a thousand people, also used artificial intelligence to recreate the faces of the lesser known. “We had already scanned the heads of thousands of players, but not all of them,” explained Sam Rivera, via a fairly restrictive process which required taking photos of them one after the other.
AI for more realism
Thanks to this new technology, which makes it possible to recreate a face from a simple photo, footballers playing in lower divisions “will be much more realistic”, according to him. A functionality, designed for social networks, will also allow you to share the highlights of a match, while tactical choices should have a greater impact on the pitch.
A welcome novelty for Marek Piasecki, a 26-year-old Franco-British and long-time fan of the series, for whom “the game tends to favor individual actions rather than team play”.
Enough to try to give a facelift to the Electronic Arts series, the undisputed leader of the genre which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2023. A success that it owes in particular to its licenses (real names of footballers, teams, stadiums, competitions, etc.) and to its loyal fan base: nearly 11 million players around the world had invested in the previous edition the week of its release.
20 billion in turnover since its creation
But 2023 also marked the end of the collaboration between EA and the International Football Federation (Fifa), due to the financial demands considered too high by the sporting body.
The leaders of the American publisher decided to abandon this partnership and change the name of the game, even though it has garnered more than $20 billion in turnover since its creation, according to the New York Times.
EA has still retained its agreements with all other leagues and federations, which allow it to offer 30 championships and 700 official teams. It also reproduces more than 120 stadiums from around the world, including the addition for this edition of the Stade Bollaert of RC Lens.
A good vintage for 2025?
This change of name was not without consequences: if, in France, “EA Sports FC 24” dominated sales for 2023 with 1.48 million copies sold, it is less than its predecessors “Fifa 23” (1.75 million) and “Fifa 22” (1.6 million). “I think that aficionados understood that the name had changed, but perhaps those who were a little less accustomed did not see it,” said Charlotte Massicault, director of multimedia products for distributor Fnac-Darty.
However, she anticipates a good vintage for 2025 with an “upward” trend in pre-orders, approaching, according to her, the figures for “Fifa 23”. Last year, the possibility of bringing together players for the first time on the same virtual field in the very popular “Ultimate Team” mode caused a reaction on social networks and caused a controversy.
