Immersion Sells: A Small Feature That Could Boost Retention and Revenue

EA, please consider expanding player equipment customisation by adding proper cut socks with visible grip socks.

This is now extremely common in professional football. Players regularly wear white or coloured grip socks underneath their cut team socks, yet we still cannot properly recreate this look in EA SPORTS FC.

For Career Mode players, details like this have a bigger impact than they might initially seem to have.

We can spend hundreds of hours in a single save. Over time, academy players and generated players become a major part of our teams. Being able to customise details such as boots, sock height, grip socks and ankle tape would give these players more individuality and make long term saves feel more authentic.

There is also a player retention argument.

Some Career Mode players continue to play older football games because talented modders keep improving their visual authenticity. Updated kits, boots, faces and equipment can make an older game feel more immersive than a newer title.

These players have not lost interest in football games. They are actively searching for immersion. If an older modded game provides that experience better, there is less reason for them to move to the newest title.

This is why small authenticity features matter.

There could also be commercial potential. Basic grip sock options could be included for everyone, while branded designs and additional cosmetic options could potentially be used in modes where cosmetic content is already part of the experience.

It would improve realism for Career Mode players, provide more customisation across the game and potentially create another cosmetic opportunity for EA.

The modding community has shown that players care about these details. Bringing more of this authenticity into the official game could help make the newest EA SPORTS FC the most immersive option rather than giving players reasons to return to older titles.

For Career Mode players especially, immersion is what keeps a save alive.

Please consider giving us deeper equipment customisation.