Matt Wales
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EA has finally whipped back the veil of secrecy around its FIFA replacement EA Sports FC in cash-splashing style, revealing a whole heap of new league licensing deals, new gameplay details, and (as widely expected) a release date of 29th September this year.
EA Sports FC24 is, of course, EA’s first major football outing without the FIFA brand, which the publisher announced it was ditching last May. Since then, we’ve been introduced to EA Sports FC’s official logo (it’s a triangle made of letters with a triangle in it), and, more recently, had a reveal for the game’s premium-priced Ultimate Edition cover. Which was a tad unsettling.
Today, though, it’s all go on the EA Sports FC24 news front, as EA aimed to convince of its continuing place in football with a flashy, no-expenses-spared showcase featuring the likes Alex Scott, Didier Drogba, Luís Figo, Ronaldinho, Leah Williams, and Erling Haaland – who’ll feature on the cover of EA Sports FC24’s Standard Edition.
In among all the big name walk-ons (and a truly immense amount of waffle from EA CEO Andrew Wilson and EA Sports CEO Cam Weber), we got something like our first look at EA Sports FC in its official reveal trailer, plus news of a whole bunch of partnerships EA has successful secured to hold onto its lead in football video games.
It’s signed an exclusive agreement with the Premier League, for instance, that’ll enable it to “authentically represent” every athlete, club, and stadium in the league across the FC portfolio. That’s alongside an exclusive agreement with UEFA, both of which will be in place “for many years to come”. EA also highlighted its “long-term” deal with Spain’s LaLiga, which will give it naming rights for both leagues.
There’s significant representation for women’s football in FC24 too, with Spain’s Liga F and Germany’s Frauen-Bundesliga joining the Barclays Women’s Super League, Division 1 Arkema, National Women’s Soccer League, and UEFA Women’s Champions League, all returning from FIFA 23. Additionally, women’s football will feature in Ultimate Team for the first time.
Following all that major partnership news, EA was ready to talk EA Sports FC24 itself, albeit in the mostly meaningless marketing language it usually leans on when it’s ready to start discussing FIFA’s incremental upgrades. EA Sports FC24 will, for instance, be built around a “trinity of technology” consisting of Hypermotion V, the Frostbite Engine, and Play Styles.
Hypermotion V will offer volumetric capture from over 180 matches to build what EA is calling its “most precise animations ever”, and that’ll arrive alongside new Frostbite Engine features: GPU cloth, Sapient Technology (in which player body forms are “ten times more precise than previous iterations”) and an “all-new match day experience” featuring dynamic match intros and match day menus incorporating new footage of pundits and commentators.
And finally for EA’s magical tech trinity, there are Play Styles, created in conjunction with Opta, which will see all footballers get their signature abilities in-game.
Beyond that, EA whizzed through a couple of its other initiatives, including FC Online, FC Mobile, FC Pro, and FC Tactical – a new mobile football game with a turn-based tactics twist.
Expect plenty more details ahead of EA Sports FC24’s Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PS5, Switch, and PC arrival on 29th September. Unless you pre-order the Ultimate Edition, in which case you’ll get early access from 22nd September.