Hey everyone!
We just held our Gameplay Developer Q&A over on our official EA SPORTS FC Discord.
I went ahead and summarized all the questions and answers here for you, so you don’t have to scroll through the chat logs.
Check out what the developers themselves had to say about the issues and future direction of gameplay mechanics!
Your passion for the game is what drives us, and we are fully focused on making the gameplay as fun and rewarding as possible. Please keep letting us know what you think, we are always listening!
Also, if you haven't already, come hang out with us on the official EA SPORTS FC Discord. We’re planning more dev Q&As covering other aspects of the game, so keep an eye out for those if you want to get your questions answered directly by the devs.
Question 1
can you please fix player switching (Right stick switching and L1 switching)
Answer 1
Switching is a delicate feature to tune as each player has different expectations on how it should behave. In the same situation you might want to switch to one player while maybe another user's expectation is different. That being said, we continue to explore improvements for this mechanic.
Question 2
If you are taking questions. I have one for you: Why does the kick-off issue keep coming back every year? It was already acknowledged and patched in FC 24 and FC 25, and now it’s being investigated again in FC 27. Why aren’t fixes like this carrying over between releases?
Answer 2
Every year the game mechanics and balance change and we have to review all gameplay areas carefully. This year for kick off specifically, we are monitoring how deep the defensive line can drop after kick off. When the defensive line drops in this situation, certain formations can be more difficult to defend and we are currently investigating potential changes.
Question 3
whats wrong with passing isn't it just more manual now ?
Answer 3
It sure is! In FC26 through passes were more assisted creating too many counter attack opportunities.Through passes are now more manual to create more opportunities for users to express their skill. Ground passes are also tuned slightly different in FC27 but our data shows that players are learning the balance between interceptions and passing. We will continue to monitor your feedback.
Question 4
Other biggest issue is the fullbacks not dropping with the center backs in the defensive line so it keeps the opponents player onside and you cannot reco er in time
Answer 4
Changing the fullback positioning will inevitably change the balance of the game. We have already identified a potential solution and we are currently testing it. However we also want to give the game more time to settle down before we consider releasing it.
Question 5
Any news on next update?
Answer 5
There are a lot of players joining FC27 and our data shows two things:
- the game balance is generally healthy
- the community is learning how to play with the new game balance.
That's why we want to give more time for the game to settle down before making any impactful changes.
Question 6
[Gameplay Feedback] Excessive Left-Stick Dribbling: Dribble Fatigue Solution Game Mode: Competitive Modes (FUT Champions, Rivals, Online Seasons) Problem Description: Hyper-agile left-stick dribbling (commonly known as "Fidget Spinning") is severely unbalanced in competitive gameplay due to the lack of a dribble stamina penalty or motion delay. Attackers can execute 10+ consecutive 180-degree turns inside the box without losing ball control, speed, or accuracy. Coupled with manual tackle rebounds, defenders cannot effectively mirror these rapid turns. Proposed Solutions:
- Introduce Dribble Fatigue / Momentum Penalty: Add progressive error rates and agility drops when performing multiple sharp direction changes back-to-back (e.g., after 3–4 consecutive turns).
- Buff Manual Tackling & Sprint Jockey: Improve L2/LT + R2/RT responsiveness to help defenders track sharp turns, and ensure successful tackles reward possession.
- Decouple Agility from Full Stamina: Make rapid directional inputs drain short-term stamina or temporarily diminish top-tier dribbling PlayStyles (Technical+ / Rapid+).
Expected Result: Restores balance between attack and manual defense, preserving 1v1 skill-dribbling while penalizing endless spinning in favor of passing, timing, and football logic.
Answer 6
Dribbling has evolved based on Community feedback over the past few years. The goal was to make Dribbling as responsive as possible and in FC27 Dribbling is the most responsive ever. However, at a certain skill level Dribbling is so responsive that it allows the users to use the mechanic in unrealistic ways. We are currently discussing potential solutions that don't reduce the responsiveness in general. Thank you for your feedback on this point! Please keep sharing examples here or on the Player Feedback Portal.
Question 7
Can we please fix the 95 depth not draining g stamina from players, if the players are at a constant 95 depth they should be exhausted but they are still in the green for stamina
Answer 7
We are looking at ways to prevent spamming offside traps as well as rebalancing the depth of the defensive line. We've seen certain players learn how to counter this strategy, so, because making a change here would also impact the balance of the game, we are giving time for the game to settle.
Question 8
Authentic Gameplay: Is there any plan to make the AI more challenging? This year the AI can defend well which is a good thing (even though I don't like the fact that GKs still don't rush out), but in attack they don't produce anything, even in ultimate difficulty... If I manage to score, I know I'm 90% winning the game
Answer 8
We are happy with where the difficulty is at the moment, especially in vs AI modes in Ultimate Team. However, we have seen your feedback around difficulty and how CPU makes attacking plays in Authentic and it is something that is on our radar. We are currently investigating any potential changes in this space but as with any gameplay changes, it requires careful tuning and testing before we consider releasing them.
Question 9
Women height needs to be addressed like they did in clubs, maybe make it to where explosive you can be a max height of 5’5 compared to 5’8 so it’s not the same as men, or make the agility to strength difference WAY higher so it’s less players with it
Answer 9
We have seen your feedback around this topic. In some instances a shorter, lighter player would push a taller, stronger player away from the ball. We are currently looking into creating a more realistic balance in those situations.
Community Manager