FC 26 Open Letter: Well-Being, Matchmaking, Meta, Toxicity, Scoring
Hello, I’m writing this as someone who genuinely loves football and wants to compete — but who increasingly feels that EA SPORTS FC 26 can grind people down mentally. Not because “someone lost,” but because the online experience is structured in a way that amplifies frustration, compulsive play loops, and toxic behaviour. I used to play football. Today, FC is one of my few real, emotional connections to the sport. I’m also post-addiction therapy, so I’m extremely aware of how certain designs create pressure loops: FOMO, “one more game,” anger escalation, helplessness, and the shame that comes after you get dragged into it. That’s why I believe player well-being should be treated as a real design responsibility — not a PR checkbox. Matchmaking & events: “testing yourself” shouldn’t mean getting executed I’m in Division 5 and I consider that a big achievement. In FUT Champions I went 7–8 and I was genuinely happy with my rewards. So I can compete. The problem is that in events/tournaments (like the recent lightweight/middleweight/heavyweight formats), I’m too often matched against players clearly far beyond my level, and the games end in scorelines like 10–2 or worse. The most mentally damaging part isn’t losing — it’s how many matches feel like an execution. Even when it’s obvious I’m not keeping up anymore and I’ve stopped pressing, some opponents keep going full throttle: constant pressure, forcing more and more goals as if the objective is humiliation. The game doesn’t discourage it — and in practice, it often rewards it (objectives, stat-padding, faster progress, the “thrill” of domination). This isn’t only a community problem. Design shapes behaviour. Meta abuse & anti-football as the “optimal” path Online is flooded with the same patterns: 4-5-1 and 4-4-2, two lines on top of the box, deep blocks, and automated pressure/auto-closing. I play my own way — 4-3-3 (4), attacking, high line — because I want to feel football and be different. I accept the risk. The issue is that FC 26 often feels like it systemically rewards repetition and automation over actual football-like competition. The result is that even when I match someone “around my level,” the game becomes a draining loop: circulating the ball for minutes, waiting for a single mistake, because the opponent is sitting with two lines in front of their box. That’s not just boring — it’s mentally exhausting. It turns matches into constant tension with very little joy. Ultimate Team creativity: I’m not asking to remove it — I’m asking to protect it I’m not here to complain about playstyles or the concept of Evolutions. I actually like that they require careful choices and that decisions have consequences. I build my squad my way: a full team from my region, based on players from the Polish Ekstraklasa. That’s the point of UT for me. If I make a bad choice, that’s on me — not because a YouTuber told me to do it. That sense of ownership is healthy. It’s meaningful. And it’s exactly why the online ecosystem shouldn’t feel dominated by copy-paste meta setups and toxic win-at-all-costs behaviour. Scoring balance & “hockey scorelines” In FC 26, I regularly see matches ending 6–7, 7–8, and similar. I even see “pro” content and card reviews where someone calls a card “amazing” while the background score is 6–7. That raises a serious question: has online drifted too far away from football-like scoring and defensive reliability? I also want to mention the finesse shot situation. At one point, there was a bug/balance change that effectively nerfed finesse shots, and suddenly people stopped spamming them every attack. The community complained loudly — and I get it, you can’t satisfy everyone — but from my perspective it was one of the rare moments where gameplay finally breathed, because there wasn’t one obvious “press this for a goal” pattern dominating every match. I’m not asking for the game to be “easy” or “hard” for one side. I’m asking for goals to feel more earned and matches to feel more football-like: 1–0, 2–1, 3–2 as the norm — and 7–8 as the exception. Less chaos reduces tilt, reduces toxicity, and lowers the mental pressure that drives people into unhealthy loops. What EA can actually do (concrete, actionable) A) Event matchmaking protection Narrow the skill gaps in limited-time events and tournaments. Match more strongly by performance within the event (form/results), not just broad profiles. Add stronger protection for average players so “testing yourself” doesn’t mean a chain of humiliating blowouts. B) Meta / automation pressure balancing If 4-5-1 / 4-4-2 deep blocks plus automated pressure dominate this heavily, that’s a balance signal — not “player preference.” Reduce the efficiency of the most repeatable, low-decision patterns that turn matches into a grind and push people into one-style gameplay. C) Sportsmanship & anti-toxicity incentives Introduce systems that promote sportsmanlike play and discourage farming goals against clearly weaker opponents. Remove or reduce incentives that reward running up the score until the final minute. Reward “normal” match behaviour rather than humiliation gameplay. D) Small event idea (a well-being lever, mentioned briefly) Consider goals/objectives that promote “a normal match” rather than total domination — e.g., an objective where both teams must score, counted only when the opponent scores normally (not via own goals). Small rules like this can shift player mentality from “crush” to “play the match.” To be clear: I want competition. I want to test myself. I want to build and play my own squad identity. But I don’t want online to mean constant humiliating blowouts and contact with behaviour that looks like deliberately breaking the opponent. FC 26 can be football for different kinds of people — but that requires design choices that reduce toxic incentives and reduce the dominance of one repeatable meta path. Please forward this feedback to the teams responsible for: matchmaking, gameplay balance, UT/event design, and player well-being/community safety. If you need platform/region details, playtime windows, or match examples, I can provide them. Sincerely, Damian
ultimate gauntlent problems
1) Whenever I create a new squad play the game turn off playstation my squad is gone only my main squad remains. 2) It says i have to change my squad for each round but even if im on the same round I can't choose the same squad. appreciate this feature but its very frustrating selecting players for each round would like to see a trophy cabinent in this game for FUT bring back the legendary managers like Sir Alex and Wenger. an old stadiums like the old Wembley and Highbury. Also your last update has ruined the game and improve your serversPlease reward risk abit more
Jogging opponents are still too hard to dispossess as L stick dribbling is still too overpowered leading to risk-less , jog away from your opponent and spam L1 runs ratty tactics. Much of the player base don’t play for fun anymore , winning = fun = exploits/ratty gameplayWhat is EA's understanding of TIME?
Has EA completely lost all understanding of time? It used to be that in order to keep up with the game you had to spend real money, now you have to completely forget the idea of having any resemblance of a personal life or free time outside of FC. Let me explain. Let's assume that an "average player" is playing the game that wins 1 in every 2 games. and let's say that this average player want's to finish up the objectives that are available in the next 15 days. Those objectives are (And some can be combined with each other.) Icon swaps Fantasy League Fantasy Cup Season 5 Gauntlet Champions x2 Now, I am going leave out Div Rivals, Rush, and any player obj like Scamacca and Silver super stars even if those can add a substantial amount of games. What I have is enough, trust me. But now back to that Average player that wins 1 in every 2 games. Lets assume that within those wins he completes any extra obj like headed goals, cross assists, chip shots etc. (Even if that's not always the case.) He would still have to play 192 games, yeah, One Hundred Ninety Two games. The average game time is about 15 minutes, so that comes to 48 hours of solid gametime. And like I said, I left out several other games that need to be played. More over, this also leaves out the time it takes to build those different teams, any SBC's build done, any Evo's done that fit those specific squads and time spent on researching those. In the next 15 days those 48 hours mean that every day, +3 hours need to be played on average. The Average player is not one of your basement dwellers or content creators that can sit in front of a screen every day, all day and he certainly isn't a "pro" that gets paid to do so. The Average player has responsibilities, he has a job, he attends school etc. Finding 3 hours on any given day to play FC is a task, doing so 15 days in a row is an impossibility. Now, you could say "well you don't have to finish everything" and yes, that is true BUT I paid for the game I want to be able to get the same options and players as anyone else. I shouldn't have to compromise or settle for anything less. I am not asking to be given these things for nothing, only that I don't have to dedicate my life to getting them. Right now I am not choosing to NOT do these things, I am being forced to not do them. This is like subscribing to a streaming service for a year in advance only to find out that despite them having thousand of movies and shows you only get 3 hours a day to use the service and when those 3 hours are available will be decided by the streaming service on a daily basis and every week only a small portion of the shows and movies will be available. And finally, just forget about any other game mode outside of Ultimate team, there isn't time. So back to my original question. Does EA have any understanding of the concept of time. Do they have any consideration for their player base. Do they only care about the content creators that push their game out? They certainly allow them to get away with breaking the rules regarding coin selling/farming (A different discussion) while punishing others. Feels like it, the only people that would be upset about EA scaling back the amount of objectives and promos would be those "content" creators. I am getting to a point of no return. Feeling like this "game" has become a chore, the fun is gone from the gameplay. The gameplay should be most fun part about this game but now I enjoy myself more on FutGG or Futbin looking possible EVO's ideas. I find myself more often than not turning the game on, hovering over the play tab, before switching to the SBC tab, doing the daily SBC's and then turning the Console off again. I Don't Want To Play Games Anymore, and that even has nothing to do with the faulty gameplay.... And that's the real problem.Player career
Why on player career are my ai teamate stupid, like once im trying to make a run because seemingly none of my teamates can and i ask for a through ball and my midfielder just plays pass to the opposition or why do they take so long to give you the ball that they will just lose it. Please fix this is incredible annoyingPlease fix the disconnection glitch!!!! (PS5)
Please EA, fix this glitch that is affecting the pleasure for playing this game. The game is already bad, but with this types of glitch it makes it worse!!! When I launch the game I want to enjoy play online games in the different tournements there exists. I don't want to spend 45 minutes before facing a normal player like me. Its always the same **bleep** in these games. This happens in ultimate team in any online games. They play hardcore full pressing to score a goal as fast as possible and then here it comes, they press "pause button" and suddenly after 15 seconds I get "connection with opponent lost". So here I go again back to menu, start new game and same **bleep** happens again. Sometimes It happens that I score first, but then they equalize and score again. Next move? Yes, same thing, pause and I get disconnected. Players that do these glitch after they press pause button, they go to ps5 menu and switch user account. Then they wait 15 seconds before returning to the original account and by they the game has been disconnected. Since they are winning it counts as Win for them (make it a lot easier to win games). For the other player count just all the time wasted because they don't get the win nor a lose. But for players like me that don't have ilimited time to play the game, it is frustrating. I hope these player get some kind of ban. SO please EA, fix this glitch.FAN REQUAST IDEAS
HI EA!im Isaiah and im a huge football fan and have a fan request to make the game better for many fans across the wolrd For EA Sports FC 26 Fix the AI Defense: Fans want the "Authentic" preset to actually make defenders smarter, not just slower. Youth Academy Realism: More detailed scouting reports and the ability to actually play "U-21" matches to grow players. Open-World Hub: A social area (like The Neighborhood in 2K) where you can walk around as your Pro, buy gear, and meet other players. Online Career Mode: The #1 most requested feature. Let us play a league against our friends over multiple seasons. Custom Tactics for Clubs: Allow captains to set deep tactical instructions for the AI teammates in Pro Clubs, just like in Ultimate Team. Refined Matchmaking: Implement a filter to avoid playing against the same five teams over and over. Visual Enhancements: Add more realistic pitch wear and tear, and better facial animations for managers during cutscenes. Classic Teams in Kick-off: Bring back legendary squads (like 2000s AC Milan or 2011 Barcelona) for local multiplayer matches.Lazy idiots can’t make a game
Are they ever gonna actually make the game enjoyable again or are they all too busy **bleep** each other off? It’s ridiculous how bad the game is now. Fix the ai runs, the passing, and make playstyles less overpowered it’s honestly pathetic that they haven’t fixed this already. Also, why get rid of keeper movement? Now keepers are **bleep** useless Stevie wonder and Hellen Keller could do better in goal than any keeper in the game. Release less store packs and instead release some good sbcs or objectives that actually make the game fun to play. I’m actually convinced the refs are **bleep** or something you lazy **bleep** definitely need to fix them.