FC 25 Updates Makes Major Upgrades To Players, But It May Not Be Enough

Summary EA Sports FC 25 brings big changes to player AI and tactics for a more realistic soccer experience.

Fans are skeptical of the promised improvements, as past iterations have failed to address fundamental AI flaws.

The annual release strategy for sports games like FC 25 may need a major overhaul to justify continued interest.

EA Sports FC 25 is already causing controversy with its changes to player AI. The next game in the series formerly known as FIFA is due to be released worldwide on September 27, 2024. Most annual sports video game franchises don't make many changes in actual gameplay each year - their frequent releases instead serve to reflect yearly changes in the athletic franchises they represent. But they also make incremental advances in presentation, with each game often promising to look, sound, and feel better than the last.

That's the case for FC 25, which promises across-the-board visual improvements in a recent gameplay deep dive. These include things like realistic body movement, new foul animations, and simulated cloth movement. But its attempts at realism aren't always popular, as evidenced by the backlash against its proposed new player AI systems. But in order to understand what's really got players up in arms, it's important to look back at FC's recent history.

Related EA Sports FC 25 Preview: Unexpected Changes To The Usual Could Be Potent EA Sports FC 25 looks to bring some large changes to the structure of the yearly sports title, based on preview information revealed.

EA Sports FC 25 Revamps Player AI With FC IQ

How Player AI Is Changing In FC 25

As explained in a gameplay deep dive posted on the official PlayStation YouTube channel, FC 25 is making sweeping changes to player AI, mostly within three specific avenues: team tactics, player roles, and smart tactics. Of course, the concept of being able to set a team's tactics is nothing new, but in FC 25, they're ostensibly more fluid and accurate than ever. An example given in the video explains how, instead of setting a static 4-4-2 formation and being stuck with it for the rest of a play, it's possible to direct the team to alternate between 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 as needed.

To work within this more variable structure, players will also be able to set roles for their FC 25 teammates. They can select from a wide variety of archetypes: things like Inside Forward, Box-to-Box, and Poacher. These roles guide players by explaining what stats their teammates need to be best at in order to perform well in their assigned positions, and what kind of support they'll need from the rest of the team.

Custom tactics can also be saved and shared with players worldwide in FC 25.

This all goes hand-in-hand with the new Smart Tactics feature, in which the game provides direct feedback on the player's choice of formations and roles. If things are going poorly, it might suggest a change in order to help the player gain the upper hand. Smart Tactics also allows for switching formations on the fly, with no more than a press of the D-Pad buttons.

Related "Just Escaping Relegation": EA Sports FC 24 Switch Review EA Sports FC 24 is the best that EA Sports has shown on the Switch, but still falls below what's available on other platforms.

FC 25's Player Changes Might Not Resolve Bad Teammate AI

Is FC IQ Really Enough?

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Ultimately, the intended effect is to give players more control over their teams' and teammates' tactics, and make the game feel more accurate to real-life soccer. It also complicates team-building mechanics: instead of simply selecting the highest-rated athlete for each position, players have to consider their teammates' strengths and weaknesses, and decide who meshes best with the current play. But some players are concerned that, extensive as these changes might be, they may still not be enough.

In recent years, EA Sports FC has come under fire for its severely flawed player AI. In the X (formerly Twitter) thread announcing the gameplay deep dive, posted by the official PlayStation account, several players sound off about their concerns with FC 25's proposed AI changes. Perhaps the most common complaint revolves around massive openings in defense. Most matches in FC 24 are much higher-scoring than their real-life counterparts, and this is mostly due to their defenders' apparent inability to notice when the goal is open. This has been a persistent issue, and many players aren't convinced that even extensive AI changes will sufficiently address it.

What's more, others point out that EA Sports FC (and FIFA before it) makes similar promises every single year. And indeed, last July, FC 24's deep dive explored possible team formations and player techniques, making similar promises about improvements to AI and general realism. Although they had different names and worked in different ways, the same old issues persisted nonetheless. The concern is understandable, as history seems to be repeating itself.

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Ultimately, these issues raise some serious questions about the wisdom of FC's annual release strategy. It made sense 20 years ago, when the only way to portray the most recent changes in association football was to put out a new game every year. But in the modern age of the patch and the hotfix, there's not as much of a pressing need, especially considering how incrementally each title's visuals and gameplay change from the last. EA Sports FC 25 has to make a major change to justify its existence, and players aren't convinced FC AI is it.

Sources: PlayStation/YouTube, PlayStation/X