The long-awaited EA Sports FC 24 reveal was held on Thursday, July 13, 2023. As promised, it was fully packed with explanations and promises. One of the biggest reveal at the FC Clubhouse in Amsterdam (the location of the in-audience live event) was the announcement that women football will feature in EA Sports FC 24 Ultimate Team.
EA Sports FC 24 will launch on September 29, 2023—and will be the first time that the elite soccer game will not have the FIFA nameplate. Fans who pre-order EA Sports FC 24 Ultimate Edition will get early access on August 22 as well as UEFA Champions League or UEFA Women’s Champions League Ultimate Team Hero Item on November 27. You can also pre-order the game here.
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When it launches, the game will be available on virtually all platforms including Xbox, PlayStation, EAapp, Steam, Epic Games, and Nintendo Switch. Before we get to the big announcement, here is a recap of all that happened.
EA Sports FC 24 reveal began with CEO’s address
After a short trailer about how triangle was at the heart of the game—and now in the name—Andrew Wilson, the CEO of EA Sports, mounted the stage rocking black jackets and pants with a white polo underneath. He reminded the audience that Amsterdam is considered the “birthplace of modern football” by many.
He went ahead to reminisce on his childhood memories about the game. Wilson revealed that EA Sports FC has 150 million fans which would make the game the ninth biggest country—if measured in that regard. In 2022, the game received 9 billion hours of play.
According to Wilson, “…many of the biggest teams in the world, in the biggest leagues, use [EA Sports FC] in their youth programs to develop this great young talent that’s coming up”.
For the next phase of the franchise, Wilson revealed that the company was looking at the possibility of connecting “a billion fans through play”.
Before exiting the stage, Wilson invited Cam Weber, President of EA Sports, to take his place. Weber mentioned that football is not static, but rather constantly evolving, and that EA Sports “carry these two principals…authenticity and innovation”. Apart from building the largest digital fans, EA Sports is also making physical commitments.
“With EA Sports FC Futures, we have a 10 million dollar plan to meaningfully invest in community-level football on a global scale,” said Weber. “We are proud to be partnering with football organizations and icons from across the globe to inspire young football players by providing access to new and refurbished pitches, drills, and equipment. We’ll bring some of these pitches to our FC game experiences as well.”
Partnering with UEFA, EA Sports FC has developed free training videos using in-game skills mode for the benefit of young players and community coaches.
The big reveal for EA Sports FC 24
David Jackson, the Vice President of EA Sports FC, was the next to come on stage and was soon joined by Alex Scott, winner of the UEFA Women’s Champions League, bearing the women’s trophy. Scott revealed that the Women’s UEFA Champions League will make its debut on EA Sports FC 24.
“We all know that the Women’s Championships League is made up of teams from all over the phenomenal women’s leagues across Europe,” said Scott. “Two of them already exist in the EA Sports experiences through England’s WSL and France’s Division 1 Feminina, but…I am thrilled to confirm that EA Sports is adding two new women’s leagues FC 24.”
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The two new additions are Spain’s Liga F (with clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid) and Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga (with giants like Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg). Afterward, it was the time for ex-players to unveil trophies from EA Sports contracts with new leagues.
Ex-international and La Liga winner, Luis Figo was called up on stage to present the La Liga trophy that fans can hunt for in EA Sports FC 24. Next was Chelsea legend Didier Drogba who appeared on stage bearing the trophy for the English Premier League. Ronaldinho also made a cameo with the UEFA Champions League trophy to represent EA Sports’ new exclusive agreement with UEFA.
The innovations behind the new EA Sports FC 24
Nick Wlodyka, Senior Vice President and GM at EA Sports FC was handed the stage to talk about the new technological innovations that will come to EA Sports FC 24. The upcoming game will be driven by three technologies: Hypermotion V, Frostbite, and PlayStyles.
“Hypermotion V utilizes volumetric capture from more than 180 matches to build the most precise animations ever,” said Wlodyka. “We can now see a play happen in real-time in the Champions League and within days have those animations in our engine ready to drop into the game.”
The Frostbite engine has evolved significantly from the last game, according to Wlodyka. Frostbite will be powered by the new EA Sports Sapient technology “which delivers body forms 10 times more precise than previous iterations and measures movements to the smallest detail,” so that player likeness is unmatched.
EA Sports FC 24 will feature new dynamic matchday angles like never seen before including locker room footage, pundits, and commentators. The third piece in EA Sports’ trinity of technology is PlayStyles which is optimized by Opta.
“Opta has been the industry leader in understanding player data for 25 years,” explained Wlodyka. “With this collaboration, we’ve equipped footballers with their signature abilities and we’re calling those PlayStyles.”
PlayStyles adds finesse to a player’s shot. For example, “Sam Kerr without PlayStyles might miss the target,” said Wlodyka. “Sam with the finesse finishing PlayStyle clearly finds the back of the net.”
Women’s football will feature in Ultimate Team
Appearing through a video link to make the announcement was England Women’s National Team Captain, Leah Williamson. “I am very happy to be an official Ambassador of EA Sports and I’m so proud of the development across the women’s game, especially to hear and announce the massive news that women’s football will be in Ultimate Team this year,” she said.
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Wlodyka revealed that Ultimate Team is the most played mode that allows players to build their dream squad. “Ultimate Team is also introducing Evolutions, allowing you to upgrade players throughout the season based on your play so you can build true unique club legends in your squad,” said Wlodyka.
Another exciting news is that FC Online will be part of the Asian games, making it the first time that video games “will be recognized as an official sport”. FC Mobile will also get an update later in the fall.
FC Tactical will be an expansion of the FC Mobile offering. FC Tactical is “a turn-based strategy game offering entirely new ways to experience the world’s game. Apparently, there are lots of projects going on in the EA Sports FC ecosystem, and more to come beyond what we saw in the reveal. Watch the full event below.
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