At the unveiling of Fifa 22, most of the attention went to HyperMotion. We have already extensively tested and discussed this new animation technology. In the meantime, we can also tell you a bit more about substantive changes to two of the most important modes: Fifa Ultimate Team and Career.
FUT’s revenue model is increasingly under tension, But EA doesn’t want to know about that yet. At the end of last year, EA received a penalty of up to 10 million euros from the Dutch Gaming Authority because FUT is too similar to gambling. Despite this, nothing has changed in that area in Fifa 22. The lucrative revenue model seems too important to EA, and the innovations are therefore mainly aimed at making the mode accessible to as many players as possible, while existing players constantly have to find new challenges in-game. After all, the more people who play FUT for a long time, the louder the cash register at EA rings.
To achieve this, the set-up of FUT Champions will be adjusted, among other things. Because it is not possible for everyone to play dozens of matches in a weekend, the matches are now spread over the week. The FUT Champions Playoffs can now be played anytime, while the Finals will still only take place over a weekend. It should give players a little more freedom to start FUT Champions when it suits them, explains producer Azlan Mustapha.
For FUT Division Rivals, EA is introducing a new top league. Only the real elite play in Division M, according to Mustapha. Once you join Division M you don’t have to worry about being relegated, but there is a mutual ranking so there is always enough challenge to find. If you want to play a game of co-op in a more relaxed way, you can also start a game when no friends are online thanks to Public Matchmaking.
Heroes of football
Obviously, there are also many new rewards to be found in FUT. The most prominent addition is the introduction of FUT Heroes. These special cards should not be confused with FUT Icons. Although these are also football greats, these cards represent specific moments in a player’s career. Think of the moment when Diego Milito conquered the Treble with Internazionale in 2010, or Mario Gomez who made VfB Stuttgart champion in 2007. For Chemistry, these players are not linked to a club, but to a competition. Gomez is thus linked to the Bundesliga, despite having also been active in Turkey and Italy.
In addition to this new type of players, EA FUT also provides all kinds of new content to customize your ultimate team. EA will continue to release themed content over different seasons (synchronous with Volta) in the form of new kits, tifos (the big banners on the stands) and themes for your stadium, such as changing the colors of the seats. This way you can give your team a completely different look every few weeks, and match your stadium with your new club colours.
Write your own football legend
Some of those options are also making their way into career mode for the first time this year. In Fifa 22 it is possible to create a completely new club, in a competition of your choice. You determine the name, the club colours, what the uniform looks like and you design a logo yourself. And just like in FUT, it is even possible to design and adapt an entire stadium. From the colors of the seats, to the music played as the players step onto the sacred grass; everything can be adjusted.
Perhaps the coolest thing is that you decide for yourself what kind of team you start with. Just for the record, you get a completely fictional team under your care, similar to how the Master League works in PES. Fifa 22 adds some options to that setup. This way you determine how good your team is on average. With a five-star team, you’re in the running for the prizes, but Master League veterans know how much fun it can be to start modestly and climb the rankings on your own. Especially now that Konami seems to be taking a radically different path with eFootball, it is hoped that EA will make that aspect fun with Create a Club.
The potential is definitely there, because you don’t just choose how good or bad your team is. You also choose whether your team consists of many young guys or just veterans and even set the budget of the club so that you really write your own football legend. Whether you want to build a new team full of Galácticos, want to storm the rankings as a middle-class player who has just received a capital injection, or want to start at a local FC Bal-on-the-roof, it’s all possible. For Ted Lasso fans among us, this is the opportunity to recreate AFC Richmond.
So the changes to FUT this year are quite subtle and mainly intended to keep the popular cash cow interesting enough for fans and newcomers alike . Surprisingly, we find more revolutionary adjustments in the career mode, where the Create a Club option has a lot of potential. We’ll see on October 1 whether Create a Club will live up to expectations.
Fifa 22 will be released for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S and Google Stadia with next-gen features, and on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The updates to FUT and Career are available for all platforms. The game will also be released on Nintendo Switch as ‘Legacy Edition’, with no new features
Adrian is working as the Editor at World Weekly News. He tries to provide our readers with the fastest news from all around the world before anywhere else.
