EA SPORTS FC 26 | Pitch Notes - Gameplay Deep Dive
Check out our full Gameplay Deep Dive video: Gameplay in FC 26 Welcome to the EA SPORTS FC 26 Gameplay Deep Dive Pitch Notes. Our names are Keegan Sabatino, Gigo Navarro, and Thomas Caleffi, designers and producers from the FC Gameplay Team, and together with the whole team we’re excited to share the new Gameplay features coming to FC 26. Our focus this year can be summed up in 3 words: make gameplay better. FC 26 is powered by your feedback, and we aim to make it feel more responsive, rewarding, and enjoyable. We concentrated on three main areas: Competitive and Authentic Gameplay separation Gameplay Fundamentals Feedback-Inspired Features And Updates Let's jump right in. Table of Contents Gameplay in FC 26 Gameplay Fundamentals Dribbling and Movement Goalkeeper Defending Passing and Shooting Attacking and Defensive Positioning Physicality Controlling the Ball and First Touches Online and General Gameplay Responsiveness Competitive and Authentic Gameplay Competitive Gameplay Authentic Gameplay Feedback-Inspired Features Accessibility PlayStyles FC IQ Rush Skill Moves Player Name Bar Across the Pitch Note: the [NG] tag denotes a feature exclusive for the New Generation of consoles (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2) and PC. Competitive and Authentic Gameplay In FC 26, we’ve separated gameplay into two presets: Competitive and Authentic. This split is based on where and how you play FC, and with this change, we’re able to customize the match experience of each mode to suit what you want out of the game. Competitive Gameplay is tuned for added responsiveness and higher player control, mainly focused on online modes like Ultimate Team and Clubs. Authentic Gameplay is tuned for higher realism and true-to-life match tempo/speed in offline modes, like Career Mode. We’ll cover both in more detail later in this article. Gameplay Fundamentals Along with separating Competitive and Authentic gameplay, we had the goal of addressing the most requested changes by the community, and the problems that prevent you from having the best football experience. We’ve refined the foundational gameplay mechanics, including Dribbling, Pace, Passing, Tackling, Shooting, Goalkeepers, and Physicality. These refinements apply to both Competitive and Authentic Gameplay. Feedback-Inspired Features/Updates We also wanted to bring some new and updated features that you’ve been requesting, and that are important for us. These range from our new High-Contrast mode, to more Corner Kick Assignments, tweaked Player Roles, and new PlayStyles. Let’s start with the fundamentals. Gameplay Fundamentals Refining Fundamentals Driven By Community Feedback While the split of Competitive and Authentic gameplay will allow us to tweak each individually, there was a great deal of common feedback from the community around the general gameplay of FC. With FC 26 we wanted to address this by focusing on what matters most: the fundamentals. All of the improvements to fundamentals mentioned below apply across both Competitive and Authentic gameplay. Dribbling and Movement - make players more agile and responsive on and off the ball. Goalkeepers - make them more consistent and intelligent. Defending - reduce the quantity of balls that bounce back to the opponent. Passing and Shooting - make it more responsive and improve available options. Attacking and Defensive Positioning - make better runs and provide more support. Physicality - make it more reliable to protect and shield the ball. First Touches and Controlling the Ball - improve the control of trapping the ball. Online and General Gameplay Responsiveness - make the game more consistently responsive for both Online and Offline. Dribbling and Movement One core fundamental is how players move both with and without the ball. Our goal has always been to make players on the pitch feel agile and responsive, so for FC 26 we narrowed in on the community's feedback to provide a more fluid dribbling experience, overall better control with and without the ball, and responsive movement. Dribbling In FC 26, Dynamic Dribbling is a new way to give you better control with increased responsiveness and more consistent outcomes. In order to achieve this, we made the changes below to our dribbling system. Dynamic Dribbling [NG] In FC 26, dribbling has received a significant amount of changes to improve responsiveness and fluidity. Dribble Touch Intervals - re-tuned how close the player keeps the ball to themselves when dribbling. The interval between dribble touches varies between Competitive and Authentic. Player Height - adjusted animation consistency and speed for players based on height to balance the performance between tall and short players. Foot Preference - adjusted dribbling foot preference logic and animation branching logic to allow for more responsive ball control. Dribbling Animation - re-evaluated and re-tuned our dribbling animation library to ensure the consistency, speed, and responsiveness for dribbling were standard across the board. Animation transitions and branching have been improved for increased responsiveness and to diminish the feeling of being ‘locked in’ to animations. Jog Dribble - increased speed of jog dribbling alongside improved logic for ball direction when dribbling to achieve more consistency in their desired speed. Effort Dribble Touches - Effort Touch animations now trigger during drastic dribble turns to ensure faster and authentic turns. We have removed the Agile Dribbling mechanic due to its low usage and to make the Shielding controls more consistent. Removed Agile Dribbling - L2 + R2 || LT + RT Removed contextual Agile Dribbling and its setting from the menu. Movement We heard feedback that players felt sluggish and heavy, especially when changing directions or when chasing down the ball. Our goal with FC 26 is to make all players more agile and able to accelerate more explosively in any direction, so we continue to tune the relative pace of players to ensure that the fastest players feel like the quickest ones on the pitch. Here’s what we have changed to achieve this: More Agility [NG] Explosive Sprint - increased player agility and explosiveness in every direction. Run Styles - adjusted runs to be more natural and explosive to reflect the pace of an authentic football match. Attacker Vs Defender Speed - improved the speed differentiation between Attackers versus Defenders to achieve an improved balance between the two. Acceleration Types [NG] For FC 26, we’re going back to 3 Acceleration Types to allow for a more predictable pace of play. We felt that three types were easier to understand and created a better acceleration balance. We also separated the formula that determines the Acceleration Types between male and female players in order to provide a better distribution among players. Acceleration Type Changes Explosive Agility minimum 65 (Agility - Strength) >= 10 Acceleration minimum 80 Height has been separated between male and female players Male height maximum 182cm (~6’0”) Female height maximum 162cm (~5’4”) Lengthy Strength minimum 65 (Strength - Agility) >= 4 Acceleration minimum 40 Height has been separated between male and female players Male height minimum 183 cm (~6’1”) Female height minimum 164cm (~5’5”) Controlled - any player that does not meet the other two requirements above. Adjusted the early stages of all three types to be more responsive. Adjusted deceleration of all players to be faster and snappier. Other Changes Jockey - improved Jockey movement to be more agile and responsive. New Jockey animations to improve maneuverability and feel more grounded. Turns - improved animations for all types of turns (drastic turns, swivel turns, etc.) to be faster and more responsive. Low Urgency - improved low urgency and relaxed animations for players not directly involved in the play to be less frantic and have them ready to accelerate when needed. Goalkeeper We received a lot of feedback on goalkeepers, especially regarding their positioning, the place where they deflect the ball, and how they look when doing so. Our goal with Goalkeepers is to make them more consistent and reliable, reducing the frustration they can cause, and improving the balance of skill vs authenticity. Goalkeeper Fundamentals In FC 26, goalkeepers received several improvements, such as how they handle deflections, how they position themselves, and even their decision making, all with the goal of reducing frustration while staying authentic to football. Deflection Control - added a new level of control for save deflections to significantly reduce the amount of deflections going back to opponents. Most deflections will now go out of bounds, toward teammates, or to open space away from opponents. Goalkeeper Senses - refined goalkeeper's ability to read shot trajectories to better reflect real-world save efforts and shot detection. Technical Improvements - improved base systems for goalkeeper handling, more consistent shot-stopping, and more reasonable decision making in one-on-one situations. RL GK Positioning [NG] One of the most significant updates in FC 26 is the introduction of Reinforcement-Learning (RL) Goalkeeper Positioning. This new system uses machine learning to help AI-controlled goalkeepers make more realistic decisions about where to position themselves in the box. By analyzing countless scenarios, the AI can now better cut down angles and react to different types of attacks while adjusting their position more intelligently. It’s important to note that RL Positioning is only active in certain situations, and is only used to position the Goalkeeper. The system is not active when making a save or performing a catch. New Volumetric Animations Animations play a crucial role in how goalkeepers look and feel on the pitch. In FC 26, we’re introducing new volumetric animations for goalkeepers. These animations are based on real-world volumetric motion capture data, resulting in more fluid and realistic movements. This not only enhances the visual authenticity of the game but also ensures that goalkeepers respond more accurately to different types of shots and situations. Be-A-Goalkeeper We could not improve the fundamentals of GKs without touching the Be-A-Goalkeeper (BAG) experience. BAG has received many updates, including new controls and assistance levels, PlayStyles, revamped UI components, and an updated presentation, along with unique camera and audio treatments. Revamped Be-A-Goalkeeper Experience For players who enjoy controlling the goalkeeper directly, the Be-A-Goalkeeper (BAG) mode has received a comprehensive update. Players can also play as keepers in Clubs RUSH. You can also use Goalkeeper PlayStyles when in BAG Mode. New Control Scheme - new controls to give you as much control over your actions from dive direction, claiming crosses with a punch or catch, smothering the ball, or reaction saves. Dive Direction - flicking the Right Stick will prepare your goalkeeper to dive in that direction for a short period. Right Stick Flick Cross Claiming - when there is a cross coming in, you have the ability to request either a catch or punch attempt, timing will matter. Punch (When ball is crossed): ⚪ || B Catch (When ball is crossed): ⬜ || X One-on-One Situations - rushing the attacking dribbler, you have the ability to attempt to smother the ball or attempt to make yourself big to block the incoming shot. The direction of this action is based on your movement direction. Rush: △ || Y Ball pickup / smother: ⬜ || X Reaction Save / Make Yourself Big: ⚪ || B Reaction Saves - when the shooter is close or you wish to take the dive timing into your own hands, you can modify your dive direction to play an instant save attempt. Reaction Dive On Demand: R1 + Right Stick Flick || RB + Right Stick Flick Visuals New Dive Direction UI - a new Dive Direction UI that appears when there is potential for a shot. Updated Positioning UI - updated the auto-positioning AR visual. Camera - new 11v11 camera that brings you closer to the action with the ability to manually pan the camera. Camera Pan: L1 + Left Stick direction || LB + Left Stick direction Defending We know how it can feel to time a tackle perfectly only for the ball to go right back to the opponent. So, when working on fundamentals, we spent a lot of time focusing on improving these issues during tackles, interceptions, and blocks. Our goal is to reward you for well-timed challenges or anticipating a pass, and now you’ll be more likely to win the ball cleanly and retain possession in those moments. Tacklebacks, Bouncebacks, and Reboundbacks Tackle Outcomes - improved logic when Stand or Slide tackling the ball to a teammate. Shot Blocks - added a new deflection control system to make blocked shots put the ball away from danger. Interceptions - added a new deflection control system to try to keep possession or move the ball to a teammate when making an interception. Tackled Opponents - opponents will feel the effect of a tackle more severely when dispossessed of the ball by playing a realistic reaction after the tackle, thereby reducing the likelihood of them recovering the ball back right after getting successfully tackled. Defending Tackle Spam - improved logic for spamming tackle, to make the delay after a missed tackle more consistent. Tackle vs Block - when pressing Stand Tackle near the dribbler about to take a shot, the defender will be more likely to try to tackle rather than block. Tackles From Behind - reduced the effectiveness of tackling from behind the dribbler. Tackle Personality - added more player personality for stand tackles Players with a low stand tackle attribute (below 71) can only perform basic stand tackle animations. Players with a medium stand tackle attribute (71-84) can perform most stand tackle animations. Players with a high stand tackle attribute (85+) can perform all stand tackle animations. Passing and Shooting Some of the strongest feedback we got on Passing and Shooting is that they can often feel sluggish, as well as that some shots or pass types are unbalanced. Our goal in FC 26 is to improve the options available to players and ensure that the shot or pass is as responsive as possible. Passing Pass Responsiveness With our focus on core mechanics, we dedicated significant effort to ensuring passes, particularly first-time passes, are as responsive as possible. Passing Angles - rebalanced animation restrictions to allow passing to cover a broader range of angles. Faster Animations - enabled first-touch animations for passes when contextually appropriate, such as short distance passes. Passes Behind - Increased animation coverage for 135° and 180° passes, also allowing backheel passes to play contextually in these scenarios. First-time 135° and 180° through passes are now significantly less accurate to avoid Directed Run-related exploits. Quick Passes - Optimized short-distance, low-power passes to prefer faster, more responsive animations with minimal wind-up. Note that in Competitive Gameplay, first-time pass accuracy is reduced, despite being more responsive. Improved Through Pass Targets We’ve introduced the concept of Passing Lanes for semi-assisted through passes. Aiming at a specific passing lane (the gap between two opponents) ensures the best target selection for the intended receiver within that lane, respecting your aim and intention. Through passes will also now lead receivers more effectively. Other Changes Pass Receiver - improved pass receiver selection, especially for Ground and Through passes. Crosses - adjusted Crosses to lead more in front of the target, along with increased accuracy when in easy contexts. Ground Passes - regular Ground passes will now have a straighter trajectory with less contextual curve. Teammates will now maintain their position to receive ground passes. Lob Passes - Lob passes will have more driven trajectories when the path is unobstructed. Goalkeeper Throws - improved throw targets from the goalkeeper. Clearances - adjusted Clearance logic to make them more responsive. Shooting Shooting Responsiveness To make shooting more fair and rewarding, we’ve enhanced responsiveness. Our goal for this is that when you ask your player to shoot, it happens quickly and as expected. Close-range Shots - shots near the net will use more reactive animations with minimal wind-up. Shooting Angles - rebalanced animation restrictions to enable shooting to cover a broader range of angles. Low Driven Additions and Timed Finishing Removal In FC 26, Low Driven shots will be performed by double-tapping the shot button. Low Driven is now a global* shot modifier instead of being contextual based on your shot power. With the new button mapping, we had the opportunity to extend the Low-Driven mechanic across all shot types* by pressing the Shot button again after powering up your shot. Low Driven Lace Shot ⚪ (Hold to power up) + ⚪ || B (Hold to power up) + B Low Driven Finesse R1 + ⚪ (Hold to power up) + ⚪ || RB + B (Hold to power up) + B Low Driven Trivela L2 + ⚪ (Hold to power up) + ⚪ || LT + B (Hold to power up) + B Low Driven Flair Shot L2 + ⚪ (Hold to power up) + ⚪ || LT + B (Hold to power up) + B Low Driven Power Shot L1 + R1 + ⚪ (Hold to power up) + ⚪ || LB + RB + B (Hold to power up) + B Low Driven Volley In Air Shot - ⚪ (Hold to power up) + ⚪ || B (Hold to power up) + B Low Driven Header In Air Jump - ⚪ (Hold to power up) + ⚪ || B (Hold to power up) + B * Except for Chip Shots. Due to the changes to Low Driven, Timed Finishing has been removed. In general, we felt Timed Finishing didn't add meaningful skill depth and proved difficult to balance. It disproportionately rewarded long-range shots and felt inconsistent in high-pressure moments. Removing it allows us to balance shooting to produce more consistent outcomes. This change allows for more skill differentiation through Precision Shooting, where timing, aim, power control, and shot selection help build a more noticeable skill gap. Trivela Shots and Gamechanger PlayStyle Trivela shots will now be connected to the new Gamechanger PlayStyle. A player without this PlayStyle will not be able to perform trivelas. While visually impressive and powerful, Trivela Shots became overused by players across all positions, often leading to unrealistic and exploitable scoring patterns. Our goal with this change is to balance the shooting mechanics of the game, especially in Competitive Gameplay. GameChanger PlayStyle - Trivela Shots can only be performed by players with this PlayStyle or PlayStyle+ If a player doesn’t have the Gamechanger Playstyle or PlayStyle+, attempting a Trivela Shot will default to a lace shot instead. See the PlayStyle Section for more details on the new Gamechanger PlayStyle. Attacking and Defensive Positioning You’ve been asking us to increase fluid attacking movement, while also having a logical defensive structure, for a more fun and dynamic match. Our goal in FC 26 is to make your teammates’s positioning more flexible, regardless of Role, allowing them to make more runs and provide you with more supporting options as you progress up the pitch. Attacking Positioning Player Support - reevaluated the positioning logic to provide better supporting options for the ball carrier, trying to always have someone available as a passing option. Attacking Runs - made several changes to the attacking runs logic: Increased the number of attacking runs by players, to lower reliance on triggered runs. Attacking runs more consistently run into open space. All players will be more likely to make the best attacking run options instead of strictly following what their player Role dictates. Ex. a Winger can cut into the box if the opportunity arises, where before they would wait out wide. Ex: a Wingback can move forward if there is open space in front of them. Balanced Build Up - teams will have a more balanced approach, giving you run options as well as close-support options. Offside Runs - improved attacker’s ability to stay onside, and the speed in which they come back when offside. Defending Positioning [NG] Player marking - adjusted positioning of defenders to now man mark opponents when close and inside the box. Defensive Line Height - the defensive line will not automatically push up as far when trying to keep players offside. Physicality Protecting the ball and keeping it is an essential part of football, and we agree that this is an area with lots of room for improvement. Our goal is to give you added consistency with the shield button, allowing you to protect the ball, be it when receiving a pass, when the opponent presses against you when controlling the ball, or when bumping a marker with your shoulder as you dribble to make a bit of space. Shielding Improvements In FC 26, Shielding has been fully reworked to provide you with more consistent options and extra authentic physicality across the pitch. Shield Trapping - our objective was to give players a new tool when trapping the ball and wanting to stand their ground instead of immediately moving. Improved positioning when receiving the ball and Shielding Hold L2 || Hold LT. Increased Strength-based differentiation when Shield trapping. Prioritized getting in the way of incoming opponents instead of getting the perfect touch on the ball. Rebalanced and improved outcomes of several scenarios and timings when starting to Shield before and after receiving the ball. New Shielding trap animations, to increase shielding coverage and effectiveness Shield Dribbling - Shielding has been fully reworked to make it more consistent and better at respecting your input. Improved consistency of player positioning relative to the ball when Shielding. Improved transition from Shielding to Sprint. Re-tuned how long you can Shield depending on how much short-term fatigue you have. New Shielding movement animations. Shield Entries We added multiple new ways to perform one-off Shield actions while moving. These actions can be used to quickly and physically get in front of the opponent before going into a rapid burst of speed, or they can be a way to start shielding when out of position. Dribbling Shoulder Challenges - new type of Shielding action that allows you to better protect the ball while dribbling. Physics - improved physics effects for both the shielder and the shieldee, to accentuate the physicality of the action. New Animations - multiple new animations added for Step-ins, Seal Outs, and Shield Turns. Enforcer PlayStyle - new animations added for players with the new Enforcer PlayStyle and PlayStyle+. Contested Boxouts On top of all the improvements to physicality in FC 26, we are adding a new mechanic called Contested Box Outs. Stronger players are able to keep opponents away when fighting for an incoming air ball. This allows players to use Shield when in front of their opponent, triggering a strong physical action that provides more space to either trap the ball or set up for a header. The effectiveness of the Box Out is based on the Strength difference between the two players. It can only be triggered if your player is in a good position when waiting for the ball. Following a Box Out, you can transition into any action to allow a fluid continuation of play. Other Physics Changes We’ve spent a lot of time ensuring that we’ve reduced physics-based frustrating scenarios that could sometimes occur. Jumping over fallen players will now be much more reliable and effective.. Players getting stuck together when stumbling will be moved to the side to allow them to detach and continue play. When trying to avoid other players, we have made them more slippery. This is so that player avoidance doesn’t cause players to get stuck on each other. Controlling the Ball and First Touches Similar to physicality and defending, first touches could have been frustrating in the past when they felt sluggish, non-urgent, or when they fell back to the opponent. Our goal with these improvements is to make players feel more agile and in control of the ball, especially when trapping it. Controlling the Ball - Responsiveness First Touch Responsiveness - significantly improved responsiveness of first touch ball control to seamlessly transition into dribbling right after contact with the ball. Ball Control - refined players’ ability to control the ball after a pass or interception to maintain possession. Factors influencing the difficulty of a first touch include ball speed relative to the player's speed, ball height, requested exit angle, opponent pressure, the part of the body used for the touch, the extent of stretching, and player attributes such as Ball Control, Interceptions, and Composure. First Touch Precision - when receiving or intercepting a pass, holding L2 || LT will greatly improve the players ability to control the ball at the trade-off of player’s move speed. Earlier timing of this input will result in increased control. Flick Ups - improved flicking actions when receiving an aerial ball in all directions to be more consistent and predictable. Consecutive Flick Ups will progressively become less effective to prevent exploits. Loose and Contested Balls Player Urgency - new ability to increase players' urgency when attempting to reach a loose ball or contested ball by pressing Sprint R2 || RT. Holding Sprint prompts immediate acceleration toward the contact point. Without the Sprint input, the response might be less immediate, highlighting the importance of your reaction time in critical moments. Online and General Gameplay Responsiveness Our goal is to make the game more consistent and to continue investigating community feedback related to online/offline responsiveness via the Gameplay Responsiveness initiative. For more information on our Responsiveness initiative, check out the Pitch Notes below: ] https://www.ea.com/games/ea-sports-fc/fc-26/news/pitch-notes-fc26-gameplay-responsiveness-update The Deep Dive contains a lot of information, such as our investigation to better understand the player experience, our learnings, and some steps we are taking to improve. Here’s some more information on responsiveness changes in FC 26 that are related to the Fundamentals refresh: Gameplay Animation Improvements Animation transitions and branching have been re-evaluated and retuned across most areas of Gameplay to improve consistency and responsiveness. Adjusted the following areas across all animations to make them more internally consistent: time to contact ball, ball trajectories better aligned with animation, pose fidelity, and animation exit speed. Improved selection of animations to better match the player’s current speed and animation speed. Relaxed the coverage required for animations, allowing them to start faster in many situations. Fatigue Redesigned When investigating responsiveness, one common piece of feedback was that players would sometimes not feel the same across the course of a match. For Competitive Gameplay purposes, we decided to redesign some elements of the Fatigue system. Our goal with this change is responsiveness; a player should always feel and play well when you are controlling them. Note: the changes below only apply to Competitive tuning, though Clubs has a slightly different design. Short- and long-term fatigue only affects AI-controlled players User-controlled players are NOT AFFECTED while being controlled. CPU-controlled players in Competitive tuning are also not affected by fatigue. An example is when playing Squad Battles. When controlling a player, the effect of fatigue on different attributes (including Sprint Speed and Acceleration) is not in effect. Meaning a user-controlled player acts as if they have full stamina when controlled. For AI players, they will have a reduction in Sprint Speed and Acceleration when fatigued (proportional to the fatigue level). Relentless and Relentless+ PlayStyles have been changed to increase how quickly your short-term fatigue recovers (more details in the PlayStyles section). For Authentic Gameplay, fatigue works as before. For Clubs, short-term fatigue works as before, however, long-term fatigue doesn’t accumulate for any player. For example, when short-term stamina depletes, the player is slower when running until the fatigue bar recovers. Note: this design is subject to change. Inputs, Indicators, and Overlays Improved the Input Processing System. More info in the Responsiveness Deep Dive: https://www.ea.com/games/ea-sports-fc/fc-26/news/pitch-notes-fc26-gameplay-responsiveness-update Fixed Skill Move detection issues. We made the Player Indicator more responsive during gameplay. Created a new overlay to better display connection status (visuals subject to change): Competitive and Authentic Gameplay Let’s dive into one of the most significant changes we’ve ever done to gameplay - splitting it into two separate experiences based on how and where you play the game. Online modes like Football Ultimate Team and Clubs will have their own gameplay type called Competitive Gameplay, while offline modes like Manager Career and Player Career will use Authentic Gameplay as default. This change is a direct result of your feedback, from the comments, posts, and threads, to the hours of conversations we’ve had with the community about how our game could improve. And yes, this means that we can tweak, tune, and change the gameplay for each type without affecting the other. If we add a more realistic feature like slower skill moves, we can make sure they only happen in Authentic, while something like removing the fatigue from user-controlled players can be tailored to Football Ultimate Team. We know that Online and Offline players have different priorities, and we want to showcase that by creating two enjoyable, separate ways to play FC 26. Competitive Gameplay Made for FUT and Clubs Competitive Gameplay is mandatory/locked in FUT, Clubs, Online Seasons, and Online Friendlies. It is optional in Kick-Off and Career Mode. Our goal with Competitive Gameplay is to create a more skill-driven competitive experience by reducing the impact of randomness and assistance. This is an experience tailored for those who enjoy fast-paced, responsive gameplay. The changes to Competitive Gameplay aim to deliver on the three “competitive community” priorities: Responsiveness, Consistency, and Control. Here are the main differences in Competitive Gameplay: All GK deflections try to get away from danger, reducing rebound goals Reduced tackles/blocks/interceptions bouncing back to your opponent Less AI defending, resulting in looser defensive lines Fewer auto tackles and auto blocks Redesigned Fatigue feature More responsive and smoother transitions in and out of specific animations Increased passing speed and responsiveness Tighter control and more speed while dribbling, and skill moves are faster Increased variability on crosses, to favour player skill over repetitive wide play Increased heading error relative to Authentic Increase variability in Corner Kicks outcomes, with fewer attacking players involved by default Less authentic visuals when avoiding a ball, to resolve these situations more effectively Players get up quickly after being tackled to the ground Players show no reaction animations when hit by a fast incoming ball Note that while some of the effects above were mentioned in the Fundamentals section, they were increased/tuned up for Competitive gameplay. We also created a new UT Competitive Camera that is exclusive to the Ultimate Team Stadiums. This camera provides a way to see more of the pitch, while still showing off the stadium and its atmosphere. This camera is on a rail, ensuring more predictable pad angle behavior to aid Competitive Gameplay. Authentic Gameplay Bringing Realism and Choice to EA SPORTS FC Authentic Gameplay is the default for Manager and Player Career Mode and optional in Kick Off. You’ll still be able to toggle between both presets in Kick Off and Career to tailor your gameplay experience. Authentic gameplay is not playable in Ultimate Team or Clubs. Our goal with Authentic Gameplay is to create a true-to-football experience with a heavy emphasis on realism, strategy, and immersion. This is an experience tailored for those who enjoy methodical and less predictable gameplay. What allows us to achieve the above is not just the Competitive mechanic toggle, but also the Authentic Gameplay Sliders. We have carefully tuned them to accomplish that true-to-football experience with a heavy focus on realism and immersion. Weather Effects are also turned on by default. The changes to Authentic Gameplay aim to deliver on three authentic community priorities: Immersion, Realism, and Less Predictability. The main differences in Authentic Gameplay are: Authentic Sliders Weather Effects, including Wind, Rain, and Snow Lower speeds for dribbling and skill moves More physics-based GK rebounds, blocks, and bounces More realistic tackle accuracy Greater AI defending enabled, with tighter defensive lines and defenders reacting realistically when a ball is nearby More realistic and tighter positioning in midfield More realistic header passing and shooting accuracy Corner kicks and Crossing tuned to match real-world success rates Players avoiding a ball might occasionally be hit by it instead More realistic animation transitions Human-like reactions and get up animations Authenticity Features Toggle This setting activates a set of features that are specifically designed to support the Authentic gameplay type, such as the increased influence of physics in ball movement, or the increased assistance with AI defending. This toggle is locked when in Authentic Gameplay, but can be turned on/off when customizing your gameplay type. It cannot be turned on in Competitive New Sliders Additionally, we heard our Career Mode Community and have introduced 5 new sliders to further enhance the authenticity of gameplay. Here’s the breakdown: Header Shot Error - Increases/reduces the amount of error applied to a user/CPU team’s headed shots. Header Pass Error - Increases/reduces the amount of error applied to a user/CPU team’s headed passes. Intercept Error - Increases/reduces the amount of error applied to a user/CPU team’s ability to control the ball when intercepting passes. Ball Deflection Error - Increases/reduces the impact of physics on a user/CPU team’s ball deflection. The higher the number, the more the outcome will be driven by physics interactions. Tackle Assistance - Increases/reduces the user/CPU team’s tackling assistance. The higher the number, the more forgiving the tackles will be. Note: Error refers to an action not being performed as perfectly as possible. Team’s Playing Styles improvements We’ve made improvements to the playing styles of CPU Teams to make them more unique, and to stand out in both attack and defence. Attack CPU opponents will now make smarter and more varied decisions when it comes to passing, crossing, dribbling, and other gameplay areas. For example, some teams prefer to cross into the box more often, while others utilize slow buildup or fast tiki-taka attacking plays. Defence The CPU will know better when and how to defend, press the player, stay back, or use double contain. For example, specific teams will try to overwhelm you by pressing with multiple players at once, while others will just sit back and then press you aggressively when you get close.EA SPORTS FC™ 26 | The Pitch Notes - Gameplay Responsiveness Update
FC Feedback Report Hey everyone, as part of the new FC Feedback Hub we’ll be keeping you close to our development process with detailed reports, making sure you know what feedback we’re working on. For our first update, we wanted to focus on something we know is important to you: Gameplay Responsiveness. We’ve heard your feedback, and our teams have been working on making EA SPORTS FC 26 our most responsive title yet. In this article, we’ll cover what we’re doing to address your feedback around online responsiveness, and the new additions to FC 26 intended to improve overall gameplay performance. Let’s dive in. Understanding Delay Delay refers to the link between a player's action, like pressing a button or moving a stick, and the corresponding response in the game. Delay can stem from various sources, including online connection quality issues, elevated ping due to distance from an FC Game Data Center, complexities in the input processing and animation systems, or even delays in displays. We know that delay disrupts the seamless connection between the player and the game, making the experience feel unresponsive and frustrating. And let’s face it, when a game doesn’t feel responsive, it’s simply not fun. Addressing your concerns about delay has been a top priority for us as we head into EA SPORTS FC 26 launch. What We’ve Been Testing Our Gameplay Responsiveness testing goes back to 2019, where we ran a number of in-depth tests on infrastructure and player connections, and created tools to help us better understand what you were experiencing. Heading into FC 26, we set our focus on testing directly with FC Design Council members, FC Pro Players, members of our community, and members of our internal teams. For example, members of our development team met directly with FC players in Europe to test gameplay responsiveness on their own personal setups. We tested at their houses and team headquarters in Spain and the UK for extensive online modes research in FC 25. You can see what this looked like below. We’ve also been testing responsiveness with members of our Design Council remotely, collecting connection quality data from players all around the world. And while all of this has been happening, we’ve been running regular tests with a dedicated internal team of core players across our QV and development teams to feedback on responsiveness problems. What We Learned FC players are really good at detecting even the smallest delay issues. Delays of even 1 frame can result in a noticeably unresponsive experience. When diving into the details, we’ve noticed players experience delay in significantly different ways. What you refer to as delay can be experienced in both Offline and Online play, in most cases. When playing with good connection quality, or in offline play, these are the main reasons that can create a sense of gameplay unresponsiveness: Animation Selection Variability to create authenticity Contexts with limited coverage Animation system bugs Time between button press and when the simulation processes the input. In poor connection quality conditions, there are many more variables that could create unresponsive Gameplay. The most common ones include: Ethernet vs WiFi Currently more than half of FC players play online through WiFi. WiFi often introduces serious inconsistencies in connection quality, such as Jitter and Packet loss, which could result in delayed actions in Gameplay. Even WiFi with strong signal strength and high quality signal can create inconsistencies. We recommend always using an ethernet cable when possible for a generally much smoother connection. High Ping Ping measures the time it takes for game data to travel between your console or PC to the EA SPORTS FC™ Game Data Center and back. Lower ping usually means faster data transfer and a more responsive gameplay experience. Your ping can vary based on your internet provider and your physical location, and it is not based strictly on your physical distance from an FC Game Data Center. A close physical distance to our FC Game Data Centers cannot guarantee a low ping experience by default, because factors such as how your internet service provider physically routes traffic can impact your ping. We are always monitoring the performance of our FC Game Data Centers. Working with providers, ISPs and our internal teams to provide the best experience we can to our players around the world. Internet Bandwidth With a low bandwidth internet connection, other activities using the same network can negatively influence game performance. From automatic video uploads from a console to streaming content from other devices, there are many factors that could introduce delay. To learn more about your Connection Quality and how it may be influencing your gameplay experience when playing online in EA SPORTS FC, you can check out our Connection Quality Report. The Connection Quality Report is a tool intended to help you better understand the quality of your connection using data from applicable EA SPORTS FC online matches that you’ve played. How your display FC can also massively impact overall game responsiveness. TV or Monitor Settings A TV outside of Game Mode can introduce anywhere from 20 to over 100ms of delay to the gameplay experience, making it feel like you’re playing in a poor connection environment. We always recommend using Game Mode if available on your TV, or use a gaming monitor. High quality cables can also help reduce how long it takes visual signal to be processed, and third party devices like external capture cards can also add noticeable delay. In broad terms, the speed at which your screen can display the game is critical to the feeling of responsiveness or unresponsiveness. If your display has a noticeable delay or can’t maintain a consistent response time, you may feel a delay no matter what your other conditions are. Different Player Motivations Another important learning is that FC players enjoy both a more responsive and consistent experience, but also a more tactical, composed and authentic experience. We’ve tried to balance a single gameplay experience for both types of motivations in the past, but based on your feedback we’ve decided to tailor the experience separately. In FC 26, we are creating two types of Gameplay, Competitive and Authentic. Competitive Gameplay is tuned for consistent responsiveness, mainly focused on online modes like Ultimate Team and Clubs. Authentic Gameplay is tuned for higher realism and true-to-life match tempo/speed in offline modes, like Career Mode. For both gameplay types, and with your feedback in mind, we’re improving our Fundamentals with the objective to make them more responsive and consistent in FC 26. What’s New For FC 26 Responsiveness As you may have noticed in the FC 26 reveal trailer, we’ve focused on new gameplay fundamentals to improve responsiveness at all levels. We wanted to make sure we directly addressed your feedback and the things we’ve learned through testing to deliver the most impactful changes. Animation variability meant to create authenticity FC strives to visually reflect the real world game, and to make this possible our Gameplay engine was designed to use realistic animations. Realistic motion capture/volumetric animations are all unique by nature. In FC, many factors like ball distance from the player, movement input angle, and player speed will dictate what animation is chosen and how it plays in the game. This combination of factors ensure Gameplay variety, depth and authenticity. In summary, in our gameplay engine, there is variety, and no play is the same. This is to create a seamless, and authentic experience. We are continuing to work on finding the right balance between gameplay animation depth and variety, and consistent expected behaviors, that are always responsive to player input. More details on how we are addressing these problems will be part of the Gameplay Pitch Notes, for example: Animation transitions and branching have been reevaluated and re-tuned across most areas of gameplay to improve consistency and responsiveness. Increased Animation Coverage Animations play an important role for a football game to be authentic. Every year we add new animations to refresh the experience, create variety, and to fill any coverage gaps. Some contexts may have had limited animation coverage in the past. This caused our system to use a longer animation or delay starting an animation while attempting to position the player in a way that would accommodate the best possible animation. We’ve focused on improving the coverage for scenarios where it's reasonable to expect a responsive action. To clarify, we have strict game performance checks that ensure the game runs smoothly regardless of the amount of animations that exist in the database. This year we have added hundreds of new animations meant to enable players to perform actions faster than ever. Addressed Animation System Bugs In some cases, the systems that decide what animations should play can experience bugs. These are arguably the most complicated systems in a Gameplay engine, since they need to solve every combination of player requests with the available animations, while keeping high quality visuals. For example: Expecting the player to get to the ball as early as possible to prevent the opponent getting to it first, but the player taking an inefficient or curved path to the ball that introduces just enough delay for the opponent to win the ball. Expecting an immediate right foot shot to prevent getting tackled, but the player decides to use their left foot instead, delaying the shot for a couple of frames. With a focus on Fundamentals, this year we’ve fixed dozens of problems related to the Animation System and its responsiveness. Time between button press and when our simulation processes the input We looked closely at every stage of the input processing system and identified a few opportunities to improve our input latency. We were able to improve input latency by one frame in some cases of first time passes and shot requests. Combined with the animation improvements mentioned above, these scenarios are more likely to play out as first time passes or shots in FC 26, as opposed to taking a touch that feels unresponsive. We’ve improved our input systems with the aim of ensuring that all inputs are processed immediately. We also improved the responsiveness of the on screen player switch indicator visual feedback, giving the user more immediate feedback on which player they are controlling and allowing for more responsive reactions to the play. We’ll share more about these updates in more detail in our upcoming FC 26 Gameplay Deep Dive, which will be live on July 22. Stay tuned! What’s Next In the lead up to FC 26 launch, we’re continuing to meet with members of our Design Council to help us find additional cases related to gameplay responsiveness. This will remain a priority for our teams to make FC feel more responsive than ever, based on your feedback. Be sure to keep an eye out for more details on FC 26 across our upcoming Deep Dives. Community Feedback Your feedback is extremely helpful for our teams as we continue to prioritize making FC feel responsive and rewarding overall. We want to hear from you. As part of FC Feedback, we’ve created a new discussion thread in our game-feedback channel in our official EA SPORTS FC Discord server. Our team will be monitoring this discussion, and will be passing along relevant feedback directly to our Dev teams to review. Join the discussion now. You can also continue providing feedback through our FC Player Feedback Portal in a more structured format to send your feedback directly to our Devs. Learn more here.
Autenticidad sin igual en EA SPORTS FC™: Ligas y licencias
EL CLUB ES TUYO ¡El fútbol es el juego del mundo! Disfruta de una autenticidad sin igual en EA SPORTS FC™ 26 con la experiencia más realista de las grandes competiciones, clubes y estrellas del fútbol, con más de 20 000 jugadores repartidos en más de 750 clubes y selecciones nacionales, en más de 120 estadios y más de 35 ligas. SOLO EN EA SPORTS FC™ 26 EA SPORTS FC™ 26 es el único lugar donde puedes jugar a la emblemática UEFA Champions League, la UEFA Europa League, la UEFA Europa Conference League, la CONMEBOL Libertadores, la Premier League, la Bundesliga y LaLiga EA SPORTS en un mismo juego, sumado la Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga, la Liga F Moeve, la Barclays Women's Super League, la Arkema Première Ligue, la National Women's Soccer League y la UEFA Women's Champions League. COMPITE EN LAS COMPETICIONES MÁS PRESTIGIOSAS DEL MUNDO Vive la cumbre del fútbol europeo de clubes en EA SPORTS FC™ 26, con la licencia completa de la UEFA Champions League, la UEFA Europa League, la UEFA Super Cup, la UEFA Conference League y la UEFA Women's Champions League, con retransmisiones personalizadas que dan vida a las principales competiciones europeas. Lucha por la gloria continental en los torneos de clubes más importantes de Sudamérica. Lidera equipos históricos como River Plate, Boca Juniors, Flamengo, Corinthians, Colo Colo, Atlético Nacional, Sporting de Cristal y muchos más en las encarnizadas competiciones de la CONMEBOL Libertadores, la CONMEBOL Sudamericana y la CONMEBOL Recopa, todas en EA SPORTS FC™ 26. LIGAS DE TODO EL MUNDO EN EA SPORTS FC™ 26 Premier League EA SPORTS FC™ 26 es el único lugar donde se puede disfrutar de la liga más popular del mundo. Juega con todos los 20 clubes, con sus equipaciones y logotipos oficiales de la temporada 2025/26, y disfruta de una retransmisión auténtica y paquetes previos al partido, haciendo que sea la representación más auténtica de la liga. EFL Creada por sus doce miembros fundadores en 1888, la EFL es la competición futbolística más antigua del mundo y el modelo en el que se basan el resto de ligas. EA SPORTS FC™ 26 incluirá los 72 clubes miembros, que abarcan tres divisiones de la pirámide futbolística y muestran la historia, el orgullo y la pasión únicos en el corazón del fútbol británico. Barclays Women's Super League Con los mejores clubes de fútbol femenino de Inglaterra y jugadoras de clase mundial de todo el mundo, salta al campo con los 12 equipos, equipados con sus equipaciones oficiales. LALIGA EA SPORTS Juega con las mejores estrellas de los 20 clubes de LALIGA EA SPORTS en todos los modos y disfruta de un paquete de retransmisión inmersivo con el que sentirás el inigualable ambiente de LALIGA en todos los partidos. Liga F Moeve Local de los gigantes del fútbol femenino, juega con los 16 equipos completos de la primera división, con algunas de las personalidades más importantes del fútbol femenino y superposiciones auténticas que ofrecen una mayor inmersión en EA SPORTS FC™ 26. Bundesliga EA SPORTS FC™ 26 es el único lugar donde puedes jugar con los 18 clubes de la Bundesliga y sus plantillas, equipaciones y escudos auténticos. Elige el club que quieras: disfrutarás de un paquete de retransmisiones auténtico y completo con marcas exclusivas y una atmósfera inmersiva dentro de cada estadio. Siente el fútbol alemán como nunca antes. Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga Con los 14 clubes de la primera división femenina alemana en EA SPORTS FC™ 26, disfruta de la experiencia de retransmisión más auténtica y sumérgete en la cumbre del fútbol femenino de Alemania. Ligue 1 McDonald's EA SPORTS FC™ 26 te ofrece toda la acción, autenticidad y emoción del fútbol francés, con todos los equipos, jugadores, y marcas auténticas de cada partido, aparte de paquetes de retransmisión y un ambiente previo al partido que reflejan el prestigio de la Ligue 1 McDonald's. Arkema Première Ligue Enfréntate a la primera división femenina francesa con cualquiera de los 12 clubes en la mejor experiencia inmersiva de una de las ligas femeninas más importantes de todo el mundo. Serie A Enilive Gracias a una colaboración exclusiva entre EA SPORTS y Lega Serie A, este año ofrecemos las características únicas y la historia del fútbol italiano en nuestro nuevo título. De Roma a Nápoles o de Turín a Milán, juega con las estrellas más importantes de la Serie A Enilive y rinde homenaje a los mejores futbolistas de cada mes con el Jugador del mes de EA SPORTS. Major League Soccer Elige entre los 30 clubes de la MLS, compite con los mejores jugadores de la liga y disfruta de las marcas auténticas de la jornada. National Women's Soccer League Disfruta de la NWSL, la liga en alza estadounidense, con sus 14 equipos completos y una experiencia de retransmisión auténtica. Y muchas más Entre las que se incluyen: Liga Portugal, Pro League belga, Eredivisie, Liga Profesional de Fútbol-Argentina, Roshn Saudi League, K League, Chinese Super League, A-League, Liga 1, Ekstraklasa, Bundesliga de Austria, Brack Super League, Superliga, Scottish Premiership, SSE Airtricity League Premier Division, Allsvenskan, Eliteserien, 3. Liga y muchas más. ¡Disfruta de un realismo inigualable en EA SPORTS FC™ 26! JUEGA EN LOS MEJORES ESTADIOS DEL MUNDO Disfruta de más de 120 estadios auténticos en EA SPORTS FC™ 26, desde el Santiago Bernabéu hasta Anfield, el Allianz Arena o el Parc des Princes. JUEGA CON LAS MEJORES ESTRELLAS DEL MUNDO Salta al campo con cualquiera de los más de 20 000 futbolistas con licencia oficial del fútbol masculino y femenino, incluyendo a Jude Bellingham, Jamal Musiala, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Alex Morgan y Ronaldo Nazário. Cuando decimos que el Club es tuyo, lo decimos en serio. Impulsado por los comentarios de la comunidad, EA SPORTS FC™ quiere escucharte. Comparte tus opiniones a través de FC Feedback.
