Although not technically part of E3, this coming weekend sees ‘EA Play’ taking place days before the actual event with the likes of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Battlefield V, Madden 20 and Apex Legends all getting their time to shine… But I’m here to talk about my beloved FIFA and what EA could possibly announce for the next instalment.
Let’s not beat around the bush; there’s one glaringly obvious mode that EA have chosen to ignore for years now and that’s the forgotten Career Mode. Surely FIFA 20 has to be the edition that finally gives offline fans what they’ve been craving – Not a few updates to the already tired version of the mode but a complete overhaul.
At this point I feel there’s no excuse to not go all in on Career Mode. The last three entries of the franchise have all heavily featured the Journey Mode which is really the only area EA have focused on when it comes to single player content but with FIFA 19 being the final chapter in Alex Hunter’s story, that’s all done with. Now don’t get me wrong, when Journey Mode was first introduced in FIFA 17 I was hyped! Football plus a narrative? Count me in!! But the problem was that it’s just not enough as when credits roll on the story, I’m just going to gravitate back to Career Mode and I’m not the only one. There’s millions of us out there who have always played FIFA for this mode and have little to no interest in the online modes…
Oh Ultimate Team. Okay I know a lot of players live and breathe FUT, but for me I can’t help but hate it with everything part of my being. If you’re a big fan of this mode then you may not like what I have to say here… I’ve tried FUT, it’s utter garbage! How anybody can justify paying real life money for the privilege of using an in-game player that is available for free in the normal game is beyond me. It’s the heist of the century when it comes to video games and FIFA players not only seem to allow this to happen but damn well encourage it! I know there’s slightly more to it then that with the team chemistry blah blah blah but one look at this simplistic mode is enough to see that it’s nothing more than a giant money-maker for EA, taking advantage of players who just want to build a better team than their buddy and are willing to pay to do so. A part of me doesn’t blame EA as much as I blame the morons that are paying into this system because if the cash wasn’t there then you can bet your ass that they would quickly lose interest in the mode! But why be so angry? Just don’t play Ultimate Team right? My problem has become that other game modes (Specifically offline ones) are suffering due to EA’s obsession with FUT.
You only have to look at every single update this year for FIFA 19… Every now and then they MIGHT fix a long-standing bug in CM, but you can guarantee that month after month they’ll be making little updates to their precious cash cow. It’s not only the updates, it’s the annual versions of the game. Every year it feels like CM is pushed further and further down the menu getting next to no improvement on the previous years version of the mode while FUT is front and centre, doing whatever it can to entice you in with this one time offer and that special package etc. It’s got to the point where for someone who has played nearly every game since FIFA 97 (See the reasons for my obsession here), this year’s game could finally be the one that pushes me to my breaking point where I tell EA to do one and let FIFA become nothing more than an online money grabber that I want nothing to do with.
So what do they need to announce this weekend to turn me round? I need to see some sort of trailer that makes me feel valued as a consumer, I need to see that offline modes are more than just an afterthought. One quick Google search will show that there’s millions of us out there feeling this way, feeling that maybe this online generation of FIFA is not for us. Give us a Career Mode that is new, fresh and exciting instead of the same old trash it’s been for years. I want something that resembles something closer to Football Manager than just playing an offline tournament with transfers. Give us historical stats, give us the ability to control the clubs budget, give us the ability to upgrade stadiums, and pick sponsors. Give me control over my youth team, better interactions with my players and let me see managers getting sacked and hired rather than Pep Guardiola staying at Manchester City for 20 years! Just inject the mode with some life is all I’m asking.
It doesn’t all hang on CM though, why not announce a new feature? I’ve always liked the idea of a historical mode where the player can try recreate real life moments or change the course of history. Especially now that FIFA has the Champions League rights there’s so much they could do, wouldn’t it be cool if you could play the 1999 final between Manchester United and Bayern Munich or the 2005 final in Istanbul between Liverpool and AC Milan. Hell I’d preorder the game right now if I’m able to play as Aston Villa’s 1982 European Cup winners squad!
Saturday 8th June, 7pm… We will get our first look at Fifa 20. If that first trailer starts banging on about Ultimate Team then I’ll probably be done with the franchise; give me just a taste of a new Career Mode or anything else new and exciting that I can sink my teeth into then I’ll have hope again. I just hope that while EA are bathing in all their FUT cash that they remember the players that have been with them for years, before there was the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. Don’t let me down EA.