After failing to reach a licensing agreement with FIFA, EA was forced to drop the FIFA nameplate from its soccer game. Consequently, the entire game was rebranded as EA Sports FC. Ever since that announcement, fans have been eager to see what the next installment of the game would look like. After over two months of wait, EA has finally eased the tension with an announcement trailer.
On Monday, July 10, the announcement trailer for EA Sports FC 24 was shared through EA Sports FC’s verified YouTube account. The trailer featured popular male and female soccer players including Bellingham, Kerr, Enzo, Vinicius, and so on. Pep Guardiola was seen in one scene dishing out instructions too.
ALSO READ: FIFA Out, EA Sports FC In. The New Face Of EA Soccer Franchise
The players were either exercising in the dressing room or standing in pairs or a small group, seemingly locked in a serious conversation that they couldn’t spare a minute to look at the camera. Behind the narration of the announcement trailer was the voice of British actor Daniel Kaluuya.
Surprisingly, the announcement trailer featured the younger versions of past soccer legends like Ronaldinho and Zidane. These left fans wondering what EA Sports FC had under its sleeves. It also felt odd that neither Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo featured in the trailer.
EA Sports FC mentioned at the beginning of the trailer that what fans were about to watch was “not actual gameplay” and that the “footage [was] rendered in Frostbite engine”.
The actual gameplay trailer will be announced on July 13
At the end of the announcement trailer, fans were told to “See the full gameplay trailer [on] July 13”. The link to the gameplay reveal is already live and you can join the queue and turn on the notification so that you will get a ping once the show goes live.
A few fans mentioned that it feels like an entirely different game—and it’s hard to dispute that when you look at the graphics. Obvious errors in the rendering of the faces of the different soccer players caused an uproar on social media after EA Sports FC shared the cover image of the new game with the caption, “The stars of the World’s Game are in the club. Presenting the #FC24 Ultimate Edition Cover #EASPORTSFC”
Ballin with the handle @BallinKy_ replied to the tweet saying, “I am not buying or playing this game until you fix Saka’s face scan”.
One thing we quickly noticed was that while the poor rendering affected almost all the revealed soccer players, it was remarkably worse on players with black skin tones. Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka was almost unrecognizable. Also, there was a scene where Halaand swaggered in a funny way into the dressing room.
ALSO READ: EA Sports Hit With Lawsuit For What Most Fans Consider Unnecessary
However, we want to give EA Sports FC the benefit of doubt considering the fact that it was just an announcement trailer—which rarely correctly depicts the actual game features and/or graphics. Although EA has stuck with Frostbite for years, it is still possible that EA Sports FC 24 may be powered by Unreal Engine 5.
EA Sports FC will compete with its former partner
According to New York Times report, FIFA asked EA Sports to double the annual $150 million they paid to the world’s governing body. When that failed, EA Sports was forced to withdraw the name “FIFA” from its franchise. That explains why we are having EA Sports FC 24 instead of FIFA 24.
After the bitter divorce, FIFA revealed that it would release its own branded soccer game. There is no clear timeline regards to when that will happen. Nevertheless, whenever that finally happens, it should mark the start of a rivalry—hopefully not a bitter one—between the former allies.
What was your first impression when you saw the new EA Sports FC 24 announcement trailer? Share your thoughts with us in the comment box below.
TAKE OUR POLL
Remember to share and bookmark this website to stay up to date on all the hottest news in the gaming industry.
