Between licensing and new competition, the FIFA series is facing perhaps one of the most important spin-offs in its history. But what does the community want from the upcoming title?
These are troubled times for EA SPORTS FIFA. In addition to the possible introduction of cross-play and change of the iconic name, two aspects in particular are in focus: with UFL and GOALS, two competitors want to penetrate the market, while at the same time the extensive licensing is crumbling.
eSportsmen and content creators take a stand
But that’s not all: In the community, dissatisfaction seems to have grown over the last few years – interest in FIFA content is waning. Which is why the question arises what FIFA players hope for from FIFA 23 and the central Ultimate Team mode.
Suggestions for improvement can of course be found like sand on the beach in corresponding forums. However, established names of the German FIFA scene have already expressed some wishes – for example Elias ‘EliasN97’ Nerlich.
Reward system in focus
In the incendiary speech about his FIFA 22 exit, the established streamer was particularly critical of the FIFA series’ rewards, which have been viewed with scepticism for years: “They did the same thing for three years, even though they knew that many complained about the rewards.” The Weekend League (WL), the premier league in Ultimate Team, is particularly in focus. For “Eligella”, as his viewers call him, this is no longer motivating.
In this regard, Nerlich refers to the Team of the Season (TOTS), an event at the end of the Gamecycle, during which the current special cards in the WL rewards are to be drawn: “Why is the TOTS so awesome? Because the TOTS cards are in the Weekend League rewards.” That’s why he wishes he could get current special cards in the rewards on an ongoing basis.
Quo vadis qualification?
For Mike Copertino, manager of eSports organisation Mizka eSports, another problem with the Weekend League is the newly created system of qualification and finals: “I’m not going to sit down for over two hours and play play-offs only to fail to qualify for the third time in a row.” He proposes a kind of Losers’ Bracket, in which unqualified players play a WL of their own with toned-down rewards.
A suggestion from the streamer ‘Der Keller’ went in an identical direction: “You could split the Weekend League into two parts. In Rivals, they also introduced an elite division. There you could collect other points for a particularly strong WL, where you can compete with the crème de la crème. “
In the current format, the grassroots fell by the wayside for him, “What about the rank and file?” This was another reason why he was “not a fan of the new system”, which had appealed to him more in past spin-offs: “You used to know that if you made it to a certain point in the current week, you’d be back next week.”
This is where the Twitch streamer felt there was a crucial innovation in FIFA 22: “Now it’s like you play your qualifying points together and then you don’t even know if you’re going to be in at the weekend,” he bemoaned the uncertainty of qualifying, which is a high hurdle for hobby players in particular: “How are they supposed to do that?”
He also had a possible solution: “Either you do a qualification, which has already been done before, but cancel the Rivals points for it, or you do it like last year and qualify via the Rivals points. “
“The new system is absolute rubbish,” agreed our colleague ‘Gamerbrother’. At the beginning of the game, he couldn’t understand why the rewards had been lowered while the qualifications had become more demanding: “The bottom line is that the Weekend League is more difficult than ever before. But why take the Top 200 rewards out of the WL at the same time?”
In the sense of players who didn’t want to spend their free time only in FIFA, a broader distribution of the games would be for him: “The perfect innovation would have been to be able to do the ten games that are now qualifications during the week and have them count towards the total of 30 games. Then you could do ten Weekend League games during the week. No more, no less.”
‘STYLO’ shows understanding and warns
Furthermore, one crux that Matthias ‘STYLO’ Hietsch sees in the Rivals mode is the lack of a relegation option. This could frustrate hobby players, which is why he can understand the displeasure of casual gamers: “I understand if casuals are upset about it,” he revealed to us in a conversation after the FIFA 22 release.
In addition to the overriding questions about naming rights, licences and cross-play, EA SPORTS will also have to measure itself again against the central game modes in Ultimate Team with FIFA 23. According to STYLO, the developers should respond to the wishes of the community, otherwise there is a risk of an undesired development: “Interest can be lost quickly.
