EA FC 25 has turned a page in recent weeks, with the community giving the game great feedback following a huge gameplay update
Image: EA Sports)
From groundbreaking EA FC 25 gameplay updates to Ultimate Team content that the community wants, it seems EA Sports is doing everything right at the moment – though, we may know the reason why.
Rewind a few months, and the EA Sports FC series was at its lowest point ever – the EA FC 25 gameplay was poor, the in-game content was boring, and with fellow football title UFL being released, people started to try out other football games for the first time in a long while. Despite some major title updates being released, nothing seemed to change drastically gameplay-wise, but suddenly, the community has fallen back in love with EA FC 25 again.
The big improvements in EA FC 25 have come at the perfect time for EA Sports – after admitting EA FC 25 has ‘underperformed’ financially leading to a “mid-single-digit decline” in its live services net bookings, EA needed to tilt the scales and get back its player base, and fast. After early momentum, following EA FC 25’s release failed to continue, a big update and overall improvement were needed, and right now, that’s exactly what’s happening, benefitting both EA and the community.
But can EA keep this up?
New year, new EA Sports
The turn of the year meant one thing for EA FC 25 players – the return of the popular TOTY promo in EA FC 25 Ultimate Team. Content-wise, EA had been slacking in the latter stages of 2024, but some of the best Ultimate Team content has gone live over the last few weeks, with the community currently well-fed with strong content.
EA has released two of the best Evolutions we’ve seen since the feature was introduced in EA FC 24. For 500k (yes, a pricey fee), you can create your very own TOTY-level item, while there’s also a TOTY Evolution chain available, where players can earn each stage of the Evolution by completing SBCs and Objectives.
Every EA FC 25 Ultimate Team player was also given a free 90-rated Zinedine Zidane item along with an Evolution to make him 94-rated – these sorts of free rewards are unheard of, and a free 90-rated Icon was sure to get players back on the game. Daily upgrade SBCs and player SBCs are being released, including elite-level items such as TOTY Icon Gareth Bale, but most impressively, EA is making live changes in-game to suit the community’s needs.
The TOTY Cup was recently added to Ultimate Team, with an Objective requiring players to score two goals in eight separate TOTY Cup games to earn one of the TOTY Evolutions. With a huge chunk of players playing golden goal and quitting games at 1-0, the Objective was proving tough to complete, so EA listened and dropped the requirement to one goal shortly after.
Listening to the community is a key way for EA to keep its player base happy, and that’s exactly what the publisher did in its huge Gameplay Refresh update. For months, the community was crying out for quick players, better passing, dumbed-down defensive AI, and more intelligent attacking AI.
Well, EA did just that, and the update has not only made EA FC 25 playable but also probably the best gameplay we’ve seen in years. But the question on everyone’s mind at the moment is, can EA keep this up? We’ve not received this level of attention in-game for years, so why the sudden change?
With EA anticipating a decline in live service net bookings, it has to change something to get the community back on the game and spending money. As long as EA’s biggest cash cow isn’t generating the same income as usual, EA needs to ensure the game is the best it’s ever been.
No matter how many shiny new packs are added to the Ultimate Team store, the most important part of EA FC 25 to the players is the gameplay itself. Who cares how good my team is if the gameplay feels sluggish, delayed, and stale? Having a fun gameplay experience is the biggest incentive for players to keep on playing the game, and it seems that EA is finally realising this.
