Severe Gameplay Responsiveness Issue – Players Feel Sluggish and AI Are Passive

Platform: PS5, Xbox Series S, PC
Game: EA SPORTS FC (including FC27)
Mode: Offline and online gameplay
Difficulty: Legendary
Gameplay preset: Competitive

Description

I am experiencing a persistent and severe gameplay issue in which my own players feel unusually slow, sluggish and unresponsive in their movement. This is not simply a matter of input delay or the opposing team’s AI being too strong. My own players often fail to accelerate properly, move into open spaces or react and reposition in time.

The gameplay feels as though my team’s movement and responsiveness are significantly reduced, making it extremely difficult to defend, create space, escape pressure or perform normal attacking movements.

Main symptoms

• My players accelerate noticeably slower than expected, even when sprinting into open space.
• AI-controlled teammates are often passive and fail to close open spaces or reposition effectively.
• Players take too long to react, turn, accelerate and move into appropriate positions.
• My team struggles to maintain defensive structure because players do not cover spaces quickly enough.
• Opponents seem to recover distance and close down my players much faster than my own players can move away.
• My own shots, including Power Shots, often feel significantly less effective in terms of power and accuracy compared with similar shots performed by opponents.
• The problem affects the overall gameplay experience, not just menus or online connection indicators.

Troubleshooting and observations

I have encountered similar gameplay behaviour across different devices, including PS5, Xbox Series S and PC, and across different football games, including EA SPORTS FC, eFootball and UFL.

I have also experienced the issue in offline modes, including training and Squad Battles, where a poor Internet connection cannot directly explain the movement of players.

I tested different Internet connections, including another ISP, and played at a gaming club using a different monitor. The gameplay still felt practically the same.

I also performed a full factory reset of my PS5 and tested the FC27 using a newly created account.

Immediately after the reset, I launched the game without connecting to the Internet or signing in to an EA account. In a normal Quick Match on Legendary difficulty, the gameplay felt substantially more responsive and the match was much easier. I won the first half 4–0.

After connecting to the Internet and EA services, the gameplay changed significantly. With the same general match setup and difficulty, the movement and responsiveness felt substantially worse, and I struggled to create chances or escape pressure.

I also observed differences across account states, so I cannot confidently attribute the issue to one specific account.

What I would like EA to investigate

I would appreciate a technical investigation into whether this behaviour could be related to:

• Player locomotion, acceleration or movement responsiveness.
• AI teammate positioning and defensive movement.
• Gameplay configuration or profile/session data.
• Differences in gameplay state before and after connecting to EA services.
• Any known gameplay bugs or unintended behaviour that could cause a player’s own team to become unusually passive or sluggish.

I am not claiming that this is caused by a specific system or that my account is being deliberately affected. However, the difference I observed between the initial offline state and the state after connecting to EA services is significant and difficult to explain through ordinary network latency alone.

I have already tested multiple devices, accounts, monitors and Internet connections. I would therefore appreciate feedback from someone familiar with the game’s gameplay systems rather than general network troubleshooting.

Has anyone experienced similar issues with sluggish player movement, passive AI teammates and significantly different gameplay behaviour across different sessions or devices?

Any technical insight or confirmation of known issues would be appreciated.