FIFA 18 is approaching its final stages, and thus the speculation for FIFA 19 begins. But how likely is it that EA fulfills the fans’ wishes?
Every FIFA year, the community loses interest in the current installment of the series at the latest after the “Team of the Season”. The next FIFA installment comes into focus!
As no FIFA game is perfect, every year requests for changes and innovations arise. What does the community want most for FIFA 19 and how likely is the implementation of these wishes? We provide an overview.
1) Licenses: The Champions League and new leagues
Current situation: Devoted PES fans must now brace themselves, as Konami and UEFA are parting ways for the next season. “Pro Evolution Soccer” is losing the license for the Champions League.
For FIFA fans, this can only mean good news. If EA has the chance to snag the rights for the premier league from their competitor, one can assume they will try to do so.
According to the financial report from February, EA is already on the search for new licenses. Regardless of whether they snatch the Champions League, there will definitely be new leagues again.
This is what fans want: The leagues from the east are the most in demand. This is also confirmed by the fan survey on fifplay.com.
Leading the pack are the UAE League (Arab League) and the Chinese Super League, followed by the Turkish TFF 1. Lig (Second Turkish League). The Champions League would of course be the absolute highlight.
Our assessment: We will definitely see new leagues. It can be strongly assumed that EA will secure the Champions League for FIFA 19. Career fans can therefore rejoice!
Update:
2) Dynamic Weather
The current situation: Currently, there are no weather changes during the game in FIFA. If it rains at the beginning of the match, it will rain continuously.
For some time now, there have been rumors that dynamic weather might be featured in FIFA 19 with the Frostbite engine. This means: One moment the sun is shining, the next it’s pouring rain, and players are slipping.
This is what fans want: While this is a cool change for more realism in career mode, it can lead to frustration and broken controllers in FUT. The community is therefore divided on this request.
Our assessment: The arrival of dynamic weather is not so unlikely. There are relatively many sites that regularly speculate about a supposedly developing weather system.
3) FUT: The “Pack Fillers”: Fitness and Contracts
The problem: For years, EA has insisted on fitness cards and player contracts in Ultimate Team. This has long been outdated and is usually more annoying than challenging.
Player contracts and fitness cards are pure “pack fillers”. The game mode would function just as well without fitness and expired contracts. FUT players are anyway showered with contracts, and fitness unnecessarily consumes coins. So for players on a tight budget, the use of a “fitness team” remains the only option.
This is what fans want: To abolish the pack fillers! Instead, more players should be included in sets, or the drop rate for expensive consumable items like Hunter or Shadow chemistry styles should be increased.
Our assessment: Even if hardly any player would miss the two consumable items, for EA, they are a cheap way to fill their packs with relatively worthless cards and remove coins from the game. Therefore, it is rather unlikely that player fitness and contracts will disappear in FIFA 19.
4) FUT: The Chemistry System
The problem: Even though player cards are fortunately no longer tied to formations, player and team chemistry still exist and cause discontent among many fans. Chemistry is supposed to ensure that players cannot build a completely mixed team and pay attention to the correct positions of the players. However, there are some errors in the system:
For example, one can easily convert an Edin Dzeko (ST) to a CDM with position cards and play him at full chemistry. Meanwhile, the gold card of Marko Reus (LM) hardly gets any chemistry if one wants to integrate him as a CAM in their team, even though he often fills this position at Dortmund.
This is what fans want: Many FUT players currently trick the system: They convert player positions and start with a formation that allows them to get all players on full chemistry. Just before kick-off, they then go into the pause menu and change the formation. This way, they play with their favorite formation and players without suffering chemistry losses.
It would be easier, however, to revise the system so that such trickery is no longer necessary. Let’s actually build our own ultimate team in the “Ultimate Team” mode!
Our assessment: A change to the chemistry system is a significant step and requires much consideration. Moreover, many players enjoy tinkering with formations and finding the optimal chemistry. We do not believe that EA will change the existing system significantly in FIFA 19.
5) We want statistics!
The problem: Both FUT and the career mode are affected: There are almost no statistics available.
In FUT, one only sees the goals, assists, and cards of their player cards. In manager mode, there may be more statistics, but everything resets to zero across seasons.
This is what fans want: Football is a sport where statistics play a significant role. How many minutes does Salah need for a goal involvement? When did Lionel Messi score his 500th goal?
In Ultimate Team, fans want much more data about their player cards: pass success rate, goals per body part, minutes played, duels won: This and more would provide the owner insight into their players’ strengths.
In career mode, fans additionally wish for more statistics, especially cross-season data. After all, one wants to see what a youth player, whom they raised at 16, has achieved by the end of their career.
Our assessment: It doesn’t sound particularly complex to store and make accessible the data that EA collects during the games for a long time. However, there has been hardly any change to the statistics in recent years. We see this change as unlikely in FIFA 19.
6) More focus on career and Pro Clubs!
The problem: EA’s focus is now only on Ultimate Team. Of course, this mode is a cash cow and is the most popular among players. But new features for the career mode and “Pro Clubs” are no longer coming, and if they do, they are only cosmetic or do not change much about the dynamics of the mode.
This is what fans want: Comprehensive innovations in career and Pro Clubs, as seen in FUT! Especially in the still widely played career mode, there is tremendous potential. Many players wish for an online or at least a co-op career mode. Youth leagues or smarter AI concerning transfers are also highly sought after.
Our assessment: Although there are still many loyal fans of the “classic” FIFA modes, Ultimate Team makes EA the most money through microtransactions by far. We do not believe that we will see major innovations – at most, small features like the negotiation sequences from last year.
7) Indoor mode and FIFA Street
Current situation: While the last FIFA Street installment was released in 2012, the indoor mode was only present in FIFA 97 and 98. Since then, there has been no way for soccer fans to play fast-paced football with an arcade focus.
This is what fans want: Every year the indoor game or a street mode tops the wish list of FIFA fans. But why is that?
In the faster modes, which are played in smaller teams and have walls, different things come into play. Less build-up play and more dribbling, tricks, and quick passes are required. For FIFA veterans, this is a welcome change to the gameplay, which can become monotonous over time.
Our assessment: After “The Journey” two years ago, it’s time for another innovation – why not an indoor or street mode in FIFA 19? EA was already asked about this last year. The response to Dream Team was: Yes, we are aware that many want this, but it is not an easy undertaking. However, we are considering reintegrating such a mode in the future.
8) The Gameplay
The problem: The gameplay in FIFA 18 is not bad, especially in comparison to earlier installments. There have always been mechanics that were overpowered: High through passes (FIFA 13), crosses (FIFA 14), or the L2-R2 dribbling (FIFA 17).
Nevertheless, fans are criticizing many aspects this year as well. Pace is (as always) too important, tight formations are too strong, the driven shot is too precise, the list goes on.
This is what fans want: Many players found the first version of FIFA 18 the best; afterwards, the patches just made everything worse. Back then, defending was significantly more challenging because passive closing down with a second player was less effective.
Many fans would likely be satisfied if the game mechanics were balanced, and the gameplay overall felt less “scripted”. Who doesn’t know the situations where no pass reaches its target, and one concedes the equalizer in injury time due to a deflection. The belief in momentum in the FIFA series persists.
Our assessment: EA needs to take action for FIFA 19. Too many eSports players have expressed their dissatisfaction with the gameplay, stating it is too sluggish and uncontrollable. We believe that we will see some changes in gameplay. Whether they will be effective remains to be seen.
9) FUT: Different System in the Weekend League
The problem: The Weekend League is a good concept, but the implementation could be significantly better. 40 games (25 on PC) in one weekend take a lot of time and even more nerves. Added to that are opaque matchmaking and plenty of server issues.
This is what fans want: A very important wish is to not limit the Weekend League to weekends. Additionally, there should not be a fixed number of games so that game strength, not just stamina in front of the console, is rewarded.
A ladder system similar to League of Legends could be conceivable. The FIFA-ESL qualification works this way as well. If one wins against a well-ranked player, they earn more points than with a win against a weaker player.
Our assessment: An overhaul of the Weekend League is quite possible in its third year. Probably not directly with a different system, but there could be a reduction in the number of games or an extension of the timeframe. The latter would also relieve the servers on weekends.
What do you wish for the most?
Every player has different wishes; some want licenses, atmosphere and realism, others want more and especially more thought-out game modes.
Which of the mentioned innovations do you wish for the most? If we forgot anything, let us know in the comments!
