EA Sports FC 24

EA Sports FC 24 is an association football-themed simulation video game developed by EA Vancouver and EA Romania and published by EA Sports. It is the inaugural installment in the EA Sports FC series following on from the successful FIFA video game series after Electronic Arts's partnership with FIFA concluded with FIFA 23. EA Sports FC 24 is the 31st overall installment of EA's football simulation games, and launched worldwide on 29 September 2023 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Cover art
The cover for the Standard Edition of the game features Manchester City striker Erling Haaland. The cover for Ultimate Edition of the game features 31 iconic current and former players from around the world in a style akin to the cover of the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Among the notable figures are Sam Kerr, Virgil van Dijk, Son Heung-min, Zinedine Zidane, Pelé and David Beckham.
When the Ultimate Edition cover was revealed, fans commented on the poor resemblance of many figures to the real life players they represented, bringing into question whether the likenesses in the game would also be bad. Electronic Arts vice president John Shepherd soon after stated that the in-game likenesses would be improved. Shepherd explained that EA had wanted to include a large number of players to reflect the many league and club licenses they had for EA Sports FC 24, and that dealing with the approvals for so many players and kits had made designing the cover art more complex. EA had also received feedback from players after the cover debuted. Besides concern for the game graphics, fans also joked about the figures and how unintentionally funny some of the faces appeared, particularly the figure of Andrea Pirlo looking "lost" or like a Hobbit at the back; possibly a late addition to the cover, Pirlo did not appear in the other promotional material released at the same time.
Fans also noted the absence of Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo from the Ultimate Edition cover.
Features
HyperMotion V
HyperMotion technology was first introduced in FIFA 22, with EA touting HyperMotion V as the "biggest leap forward"; promotion for the game highlighted the feature as the game's USP. Volumetric data from 180matches featuring predominantly English and Spanish professional men's and women's teams was used in developing the technology. It is used only in the regular version of the game, available on Windows for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S.
The match data was collected from "cameras around the stadiums", meaning the in-game figures would move more like their real-life counterparts, and was also used to train EA Sports FC proprietary machine learning algorithms. The machine learning used the data to learn what realistic footballing movement is like, and how to recreate it in other figures. The cameras captured all players on the pitch at once, further informing team movement for the game, as well as ball physics. As well as the cameras, EA used data recorded by StretchSense gloves worn by (outfield) players to record data on how hands moved while playing, training the game's AI on this.
EA also improved their AcceleRATE feature, to AcceleRATE 2.0, with HyperMotion V. Previously, figures were rated with one of three acceleration archetypes that affected their movement when running; AcceleRATE 2.0 uses seven archetypes, though they are still assigned automatically based on physical features rather than on player data (the figure's speed is informed by player statistics).
PlayStyles
Optimised by Opta Sports, EA Sports FC 24 introduces PlayStyles, which represent players' on-pitch abilities in-game and give players unique capabilities. PlayStyles+ allows the game to reflect elite players' abilities and are an enhanced version of typical PlayStyles. PlayStyles fall under six categories: scoring, passing, ball control, defending, physical, and goalkeeper (limited to the Be a Goalkeeper modes in Player Career and Clubs). In total, there are 34 brand new PlayStyles.
It is also possible to switch between automatic precision passing and controlling pass mechanics by gamer input.
In previous games, players have been able to use modifiers to allow the footballer figures to play in different positions. With the introduction of PlayStyles, including footballers' alternative realistic positions, and an upgraded chemistry system, the modification option has been removed.
Ultimate Team
Formerly abbreviated to "FUT" (FIFA Ultimate Team) in previous entries, Ultimate Team is now officially named EA Sports FC 24 Ultimate Team and abbreviated to "UT". The mode introduces Evolutions, allowing users to improve eligible players' skills, PlayStyles, and overall ratings as well as levelling up their Player Item designs and backgrounds.
In addition, male and female players can now be chosen in the same team. EA Sports announced that in the release roster, Alexia Putellas, Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Kylian Mbappé were tied for the highest overall rating at 91.
Ultimate Team features eight new ICONs, including 5 female ICONs for the first time, with the addition of Mia Hamm, Birgit Prinz, Homare Sawa, Camille Abily and Kelly Smith as well as 3 new male ICONs, Zico, Bobby Charlton and Franck Ribéry.
Clubs and VOLTA Football
The combined Clubs and VOLTA Football mode introduces cross-platform play between users on same-generation consoles, expanding cross-play into all of the game's online multiplayer modes. Users can cross-play between PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Windows, while users on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One can cross-play with each other.
Nintendo Switch updates
The FIFA video games released for the Nintendo Switch since FIFA 20 had been "legacy" editions, each preserving the same game as FIFA 19 with only minor updates (typically only new kits each year) over multiple releases. EA Sports FC 24 was the first game to have a substantial update on Nintendo Switch, bringing it closer in line with (though still technologically behind) the version for other platforms.
The Frostbite game engine is used to run the Switch version for the first time, providing similar gameplay to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game. The Ultimate Team experience and VOLTA Football were also improved in line with the general version, but despite this, the Switch game does not support cross-platform play with either PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. The use of Frostbite included capping the frame rate at 30fps, when previously it had been higher.
The HyperMotion technology is not available on Switch, and there was no Ultimate Edition released for Switch.
Platform availability
Licenses
On 10 May 2022, EA Sports and FIFA announced that their long-term licensing agreement would end upon its conclusion on 31 December 2022, following a one-year extension to allow for the release of FIFA 23. On the same day, EA announced that their football video game franchise FIFA would be rebranded under the name EA Sports FC in 2023 and that they were retaining the licenses to players, teams, stadiums, and leagues. New licenses acquired for EA Sports FC 24 include a variety of women's leagues, including Spain's Liga F and Germany's Frauen-Bundesliga. EA also revealed at a game presentation event in July 2023 that they had made exclusive deals with UEFA, England's Premier League and Spain's La Liga, and would include their competitions in the EA Sports FC series.
EA Sports FC 24 is also the first game in the franchise to include the license of the Ballon d'Or.
In the English dub, Guy Mowbray and Sue Smith act as the secondary commentary team in the game's Kick-off and Ultimate Team modes.
Reception
Regular version reviews
EA Sports FC 24 received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.
IGN's Andrew McMahon and GameSpot's Richard Wakeling both rated the game 7/10, assessing that it was much like previous installments with some additions but mostly incremental improvements to its longstanding gameplay.
McMahon and Wakeling praised the added realism and smoothness of HyperMotion and the updated graphics and animations; both also criticised the AI, touted as an improvement on the FIFA series' use, as disappointing, particularly with goalkeepers. They praised several of the developments, including the Evolutions mode of Ultimate Team. McMahon described the PlayStyles as "genuinely impressive" in how many players' attributes were captured, and that applying PlayStyles to customizable players "[makes] a world of difference". Wakeling said that "it feels much more satisfying to perform [relevant] actions" based on a figure's PlayStyle.
Reviewers responded positively to the inclusion of women's players in Ultimate Team, as it adds not only more player options but also more squad building choices given the different styles and attributes. McMahon was satisfied with the nostalgic VOLTA, but was disappointed in the developments to the Career Mode, with both him and Wakeling considering them detrimental.
Nintendo Switch version reviews
Chris Scullion of Nintendo Life gave the game 8/10 stars, celebrating the near-parity with other consoles and the many new play options for Switch gamers. It particularly highlighted the Ultimate Team experience, something which had previously been a replica of FIFA 17 version on Switch, now including all of the features which had been gradually added over the previous seven years on other consoles. He concluded that it is "the best football game ever released on a Nintendo system." McMahon's review of the Switch version of EA Sports FC 24 compared it to the same game on other consoles, rather than comparing with past FIFA games on Switch, and gave it 4/10 stars. He noted that the lack of HyperMotion was both a detriment in itself and also made the PlayStyles feature very limited. Likening the gameplay and graphics to something from 2006, McMahon also noted that many of the new graphics that made the game feel more modern were absent from the Switch version. He also felt it was the best handheld football game, but qualified that "if you have the option then you'll find a much more enjoyable and modern version on any other platform."
Scullion had welcomed the inclusion of VOLTA on the Switch version, saying that its mini-game and local multiplayer-based gameplay was probably more ideal for the portable Switch than other consoles, though McMahon rated VOLTA poorly due to its need for other online players and the lack of Switch users interested in the mode, making it difficult to access at all.
Pocket Tactics' Connor Christie gave the game 8/10, saying it was fluent despite the reduced frame rate.
Popular response
Initially, the game had been review bombed by users, many of whom complained about a perceived lack of difference from the previous installment and several bugs. One prominent bug was the Ada Hegerberg figure in Ultimate Team, popular due to her 89 overall rating, running away from the ball and otherwise being unusable. Hegerberg herself received abuse from gamers until EA fixed the bug. Some gamers reacted negatively to the inclusion of women's players, particularly female ICONs, in Ultimate Team, though others felt such a reaction was "pathetic" and similar sentiments.
Gamers also negatively responded to the Elite Season Opener Pack loot box, feeling that EA were aggressively pushing the pay-to-win option of Ultimate Team more than usual: the pack was made available during an early access period that gamers already paid a premium to play, and was worth the equivalent of $30 (it could be purchased as a microtransaction with real currency or with in-game coins earned by winning games). Besides the timing and cost, the value of the items in the pack was deemed sub-par, further angering gamers. Wakeling, noting the controversy in his review, wrote that "it's more than a little dystopian that [EA is] still asking for extra money from its already-paying customers."
Sales
EA Sports FC 24 reached 11.3 million players in its first week. It was the top-selling video game for physical copies in the UK for the two weeks following its release.
Notes
References
2023 video games
Association football video games
Women's association football video games
EA Sports games
Sports video games with career mode
Frostbite (game engine) games
Xbox Series X and Series S games
Xbox One games
Windows games
PlayStation 5 games
PlayStation 4 games
Nintendo Switch games
Video games set in 2023
Video games set in 2024
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Video games developed in Canada
EA Vancouver games