Siddharth Ganguly

FC 26 Players React to EA Sale: “More Realistic Football, Less TikTok Brainrot”

FC 26

The news of EA being bought for a whopping $55 billion has shaken the gaming industry to its core. As one of the biggest video game companies in the world, EA’s new ownership change, where they were bought out by a private investors’ consortium including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, has brought in an array of reactions from avid fans and gamers.

The company, known for its iconic titles and franchises like Need For Speed, Battlefield, Star Wars, Madden and the universally beloved FIFA or EA FC series of football simulation games, was founded in 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins. Over the course of its long and storied history as a stalwart in the video game industry, EA has garnered immense love and appreciation globally, while also receiving criticism and hatred, often justified, for its corporate greed and nosy microtransactions; complaints that have risen exponentially after the advent of multiplayer online games.

While EA has become synonymous with the childhood memories of millions of gamers worldwide, their flagship FIFA or EA FC series has always been their most cherished and loved gaming series, which has endured for decades and managed to incur massive popularity despite divisive critical and player responses over the years.

The presence of Saudi Arabian conglomerates and investor consortia is not something new to the game of football — Newcastle United was bought by the same PIF in 2021. Middle Eastern investment has massively changed the horizons of European football, with Manchester City (owned by the City Football Group, which is majorly owned by Abu Dhabi United Group and American firm Silver Lake) and current Champions League defenders Paris Saint-Germain (owned by Qatar Sports Investments, a Qatari-operated shareholders organization) being the best and most noteworthy examples of clubs that have been fully transformed from mediocre entities to footballing giants in a decade.

Even the Roshn Saudi League or the Saudi Pro League has received massive exposure and fanfare after Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably one of the greatest footballers to ever exist, signed for Al Nassr in December 2022 after falling out with the hierarchy at Manchester United, a club that was also on the radar of Middle Eastern investment before British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe leveraged a buyout of a 25% stake in the club.

Now, with the huge acquisition of Middle Eastern money, gamers are hoping for changes in their gaming conglomerate’s golden ticket. While some gamers are downright negative about the new buyout, most gamers are cautiously optimistic.

How did Fans React to this News?

On Twitter, the reactions have been quite different, with people being more open to the idea of newer ownership. Many fans are now expecting a better EA FC experience, quite possibly aligning the acquisition of EA with the improvements that football clubs like Newcastle United have undertaken with Saudi treasure-chests.

“Here’s to hoping this finally means a more realistic football simulator, and not this TikTok brainrot fidget spinner game.”

Sheesh, no Antony was harmed in that comment.

One user appreciated the move and also cited the example of Battlefield to support their argument that this was the right step forward for the company.

“Guess they saw this coming long ago explains why @Battlefield made a comeback and why @EASPORTSFC is the best “FIFA” in years. Curious to see what EA can do next when the focus isn’t just on pleasing shareholders.”

However, another user was cautious in his praise, criticising the game’s “glaring issues” but still managing to be “decent”.

“Game is decent this year for first time in a while. Still a lot of glaring issues. Like how losers can hold LT and spin in a thousand circles and u just cannot win the ball! Hopefully this makes the game better and not pay to win BS. Hoping for improvements.”

One user hoped that The Journey Mode, the historic story mode featuring an original FIFA character, Alex Hunter, and his journey to be a famous footballer, facing trials and tribulations that lasted from FIFA 17 to FIFA 19, would make a comeback.

“The journey back ?!”

Another user joked about former Newcastle star Aleksander Isak, and portrayed a meme about Newcastle United being much stronger than other teams, holding a Dan Burn card with a 92 rating in comparison to a Bronze Isak card.

So what do Fans Want?

Keeping memes about women and Newcastle United aside, we have gauged the reactions of the thousands of fans who have engaged in the debate. This has led us to compile a few demands that make sense from the perspective of your average gamer.

  1. Lesser Microtransactions: While EA is notorious for its rampant MTXs, gamers are hoping for a smoother flow of their gaming experience with fewer MTXs, especially in modes like Ultimate Team.
  2. More Transparency and Accountability: Gamers hope that EA doesn’t limit itself to PR gimmicks and false promises, but instead takes full responsibility for the feedback of gamers and makes the required tweaks and changes in their games.
  3. Take More Risks: With Saudi billions in hand, fans expect EA to diverge deeper into creativity and take more risks in their approach. Getting newer leagues, more licensed Asian clubs could be a start.
  4. Still maintaining Diversity and Inclusion: Fans want EA to avoid the trap of sportswashing and keep their games in line with the ethos of their large and diverse community of gamers.
  5. A Return to Story Modes: Fans believe that “The Journey” or something in a similar but more fleshed out vein would be apt for the newer games.
  6. Improvement in Career Mode and Alternate Endings: A more climactic career mode with multiple endings. Fans want training footage, dressing room bust-ups, and post-match interviews to have multiple endings based on the behaviour of the manager or player.
  7. Ability to play co-op career mode: Fans want a free co-op option where they can simultaneously play career mode. Imagine a scenario where your team is two goals down and you and your friend play together, using chemistry to create goals and win from a hopeless situation.

Whether these dreams would be fulfilled or not, it is surely an exciting, albeit cautious, time to be an EA fan. The next years would only help broaden our curiosity and maybe, just maybe, EA would actually turn out to make better games with less corporate greed and more user satisfaction.

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