10 Problems With FIFA Games Die-Hard Fans Won't Admit
EA Sports: It's in the game... and don't you FIFA fans know it.
From the early, humble beginnings with EA's 1993 release FIFA International Soccer, we have seen the football video game franchise soar to the peak of the industry. Millions upon millions of sales every year prove how enormous the fanbase truly is.
Despite leading the way for sports titles in the gaming market, FIFA is far from innocent and far from impervious to the wrath of a demanding player base. Somewhat inevitably, the latest iteration is no different.
It's full of frequently abused exploits, an unrewarding loot-box system, unbalanced matchmaking and enough cheese to turn a cartoon mouse lactose intolerant. Despite hitting a record high player count of 10 million with FIFA 20, the Metacritic user score sits at just 0.9. That's the lowest rating ever given to a FIFA title.
For a game to have such overwhelmingly negative reviews and yet still retain such a huge player base is certainly a unique occurrence in the industry. This uniqueness is not lost on the fans of the franchise as they are made to endure many of the same antagonising issues year after year, so let's Stockholm Syndrome our way into this.
10. Never Having Noteworthy Updates To 'Career Mode'
The FIFA Career Mode community have long been left feeling rejected by EA. Career Mode had long given fans some of their favourite moments within the series, but following the 2009 cash-cow that was Ultimate Team, the lack of monetisation opportunities available within Career Mode has led to the fan favourite game type to stagnate.
After FIFA 19 failed to introduce anything of note beyond a new background after acquiring the licensing for the official UEFA Champions League and Europa League competitions, FIFA 20 built on this by almost completely breaking the game mode for the first month following launch.
Players discovered numerous glitches and broken game mechanics that led to teams fielding their weakest squads for every game, the biggest teams in the league were getting relegated and players were actually having their manager sacked for offering a player a wage bump that the board deemed too high.
These bugs took a month to patch out of the game, leading many to abandon the title altogether. EA will have to strive to make large improvements in quality for the next release, lest they risk permanently alienating some of their longest-serving fans.