It’s the dawn of a new era of football gaming, as EA Sports releases a whole host of info around its new franchise, FC24, which takes the reigns from the FIFA series as we’ve known it, and ramps the hype up to 11 with the first Official Gameplay Trailer.
Unless you’ve been stuck under a rock somewhere you should know that the FIFA series that we’ve all grown up playing over the last 30-odd years is coming to an end. Yes, sad times. But in its place a new beast is rising from the ashes, and it promises to be everything FIFA was and more. Still headed up by EA Sports, EA Sports FC24, to give it its full title, or just FC24 for short, is the first instalment in the new era, and the company has revealed a host of details about the new release at a star-studded event in Amsterdam, including the fact that Erling Haaland will be the Standard Edition Cover Star.
The information presented at the glitzy Amsterdam announcement event – which saw the likes of Alex Scott, Didier Drogba, Luís Figo, Ronaldinho, Leah Williamson, and Erling Haaland rolling up the red carpet – has revealed new league licensing deals, new gameplay details, and the official launch date of 29 September (unless you pre-order the Ultimate Edition, in which case you'll get early access from 22nd September).
So, starting with the licensing side, and EA Sports has signed an exclusive agreement with the Premier League, that'll enable it to "authentically represent" every athlete, club, and stadium in the league across the FC portfolio. That's alongside an exclusive agreement with UEFA, both of which will be in place "for many years to come". EA also highlighted its "long-term" deal with Spain's La Liga, which will give it naming rights for both leagues.
This comes alongside the already revealed partnership with Nike, with more details about the work with Nike Virtual Studios having been released recently. It's a move that promises to bring an elevated level of authenticity to the franchise
There's significant representation for women's football in FC24 too, with Spain's Liga F and Germany's Frauen-Bundesliga joining the Barclays Women's Super League, Division 1 Arkema, National Women's Soccer League, and UEFA Women's Champions League, all returning from FIFA 23. In a marked move forward, women's football will also feature in Ultimate Team for the first time, meaning you’ll be able to have the likes of Sam Kerr lining up alongside Erling Haaland upfront for the first time ever.
From a gameplay perspective, there’s been plenty of talk about how FC24 will be better than what came before, as you’d expect, and that’s apparently going to be down to a "trinity of technology" consisting of Hypermotion V, the Frostbite Engine, and Play Styles. We’re not ones to dig into the tech side of things too deeply, especially at this early stage, suffice to say that the proof will be in the pudding, but we’re sure it won’t disappoint on that front.
One of the brand new features coming to EA Sports FC 24 that we’re particularly excited about is the ability to recreate specific moments from live matches. EA has suggested that it’ll be able to capture direct footage from these matches and then present the wilder moments as gameplay challenges for players to complete, adding a whole new dimension to the action.
All in all, there’s plenty to get excited about here, and we’re already looking forward to September. All aboard the hype train!
EA Sports FC24 will be available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PS5, Switch, and PC from 29 September 2023.
