The State of EA FC 24

This may be a bit of a lengthy rant and for that I do apologise beforehand. However, there is just so much to talk about with this awful game that I cannot keep it short and sweet without using the most foul language possible which most players could relate to this year.

I’ll also start by saying that this rant is going to be mainly focused on offline modes and gameplay as there has been more than enough coverage on the state that Ultimate Team is in this year from legends such as Inception, NickRTFM and so on, as well as countless posts by the community on here discussing this as well. Anyways, let’s begin shall we?

First off, let’s talk about the menus themselves. When in career mode, kick off mode, or even the settings for offline gameplay, there is constant input delay and lagging. How is this even possible for a Triple A Studio game worth millions (if not billions) of dollars? How can this be quite literally the only PS5 game I play that has this issue when it is by far one of the most successful financially I play? There have been so many times on Career Mode where I have accidentally accepted transfer offers or clicked on the wrong option which has led me to backtrack significantly to get to that point again because of input delay in the menus. That is absolutely nuts to me.

Secondly, let’s get onto the meat and drink of this post and one of the consistent issues for every player this year - the gameplay. My god, is this the worst gameplay experience I have played on any game. I consider myself a good player on and offline, I have been playing this game for around two decades and understand the basic mechanics very well at this point. I know how to pass and move, I can play patiently, sit and soak up pressure or be on the front foot and press aggressively without my tactics being set up this way. So please explain to me why when I’m playing a 60-70 rated team from the lower leagues I cannot press them, their dribbling is glued to their feet despite having below average ball control, dribbling and agility stats, and they fashion and score the most bizarre and silly goals almost every game.

I totally accept that upsets happen in football, it is one of the best parts of being a football fan. However, this does not happen pretty much every single game. Meanwhile, when the opposition is running and passing rings around me, when I am on the ball it is as stiff as possible and my players are giving the ball away so cheaply and are messing up two yard passes. This is only the tip of the iceberg for gameplay offline too.

Much like the offline menus mentioned earlier, there is constant input delay and lack of response from my players no matter how the game is going for me. How is this even possible on a next gen game’s most modern title from a Triple A Studio working for one of (if not the most) successful gaming companies ever?

Then there is the actual feedback and patches you implement into the game. Most of the time, when I read the patch notes two thoughts instantly pop up in my head. The first is that literally nobody is actually complaining or criticising the things you are patching more than the gameplay and menu bugs themselves. Secondly, the issues you address are not even fixed properly and occur again! Please see the patch notes from the two most recent patches that will be attached to this post for examples.

There have been countless forum posts, YouTube videos and live streams which document and point out the issues with gameplay alone yet there is never actually anything done about this. Instead, you seem to choose the most obscure and random bugs to try and fix in a pathetic attempt to make it seem like you care. If you actually listened and watched what the community is commonly pointing out every single day, you may find the reason why your player base is so unhappy and why this game is doing progressively worse as the year goes on (why else would this game now be free on PlayStation Plus? Why else would there be constant discounts on the PS Store?).

To conclude all of this, this has all led me to believe the developers and EA themselves are one of four things. You are either stupid, ignorant, naïve or all three of these. This is not meant to be insulting by the way, it is just the honest truth as to where this game is at right now.

I do not know what I hope to achieve with this post. Maybe to be able to discuss and relate to other EA FC players with a similar experience, maybe in a fleeting attempt to get a developer or community manager at EA to actually listen and respond to all of the negative feedback about the same things. I do know I have to get this off my chest though. I could go into even more detail just about offline modes, never mind Ultimate Team but as I said before, this issue has been brought up so much recently that I thought I would discuss the offline modes too so you know how little care is put into the entirety of this game. This all comes a place of passion and love for one of my favourite game franchises of all time until the last few years. I, as well as everybody else, want this to be the best game possible and all see that is potentially could be with a little bit of care and response from yourselves.

Whether you read through all of this or not, thank you and I hope you have a great day, and I look forward to any responses to this post.

Harry