FIFA 18 has already faced a lot of criticism from gamer professionals. Now Mohammed “Mo” Harkous has also spoken out, accusing EA of being fixated on revenues.
Not only from the community, but also from its own eSports players, EA received a lot of criticism for FIFA 18. Earlier this year, this even led to the reigning FIFA world champion quitting the game.
Now, Mohammed “Mo” Harkous, a long-time FIFA pro at Team Expert, has spoken out in detail about the issue.
FIFA 18 is too easy and requires little skill
The problem of eSports players – FIFA is not skill-based: The fact that luck decides more in FIFA 18 than in other games has several factors. On one hand, the game supports you in many ways through things like CPU pressing or auto-corrected passes. In addition, there are the well-known myths like the kickoff bug or momentum. The skill differences are therefore very small, but to keep up, you need the best cards in your team, which you can only obtain by spending real money.
“Mo” describes EA’s dilemma: For the eSports player, there are many things that EA should improve. However, he also recognizes that a certain dilemma exists: “I already know that it is difficult for them. EA thinks: Who are we making the game for, the professionals or the casual players? I understand that they make the game a bit easier, so that many more people play and invest a lot more money.”
There are actually 1,000 things that EA should do better.
EA must decide: eSports-ready or high revenues?
eSports events are just a large promotional campaign: Clearly, EA has been trying for a few years to establish FIFA as an eSports title. However, one cannot shake the impression that their competitive streams are more of a promotional action for expensive cards. Because for watching on Twitch, players were promised “drops” in the form of end-game FUT cards. The moderators also put a strong emphasis on continuously mentioning how good the eSports players’ cards were in the stream.
EA’s path is wrong for eSports: Currently, a lot is possible in FIFA, even an average player can beat professionals with luck. This may lead to more motivation and real money investment from weaker gamers, but for professionals, it tends to lead to frustration.
“Mo” wants an eSports mode: One option would be a separate eSports mode. Specifically, Harkous wishes for “a slightly more difficult game, so that we can defeat our opponents even if we are better.” This would mean that it is no longer absolutely necessary to have the very best cards to keep up, but rather that gameplay skill counts more. For “Mo,” this would not only be desirable, but essential for a serious eSports title.
Therefore, I wish for another eSports mode, for all professionals and those who want to become one.
“FIFA 19” changes sound like improvements
With all the “FIFA 19” news that we already received from EA and testers, one can at least speculate that EA wants to move in the direction of eSports. There are indeed several points that speak for a more skill-based game:
- A new shooting system, which is supposed to reward risk and skill in finishing.
- Dynamic tactics, with which you can quickly and extensively change tactics during the game. The hope is that this will allow the AI to be influenced more by the player.
- Penalties: Often, penalties decided in FIFA 18 over thousands of Euros in prize money, so it is doubly frustrating when these are pure luck. In FIFA 19, the goalkeeper should jump over the ball much less often, even if you have correctly anticipated the corner.
- Speed should be less important and player types like Kroos or Busquets become more playable. This could finally pay off to have an eye for smart passes, instead of always playing fast and tempo-driven forward.
Whether it ultimately works the way we want and the eSports players are satisfied will be seen at the latest in September at the start of the trial version, in which you can play FIFA 19 in full before the official release.
What do you think? Can a game like FIFA, where only one of eleven players is controlled by a human, become an eSports title?
