FIFA World Champion Corentin “RocKy” Chevrey is taking a break from FIFA 18. Because: The game is getting worse.
Since the release of FIFA 18 in September last year, EA Sports has been regularly releasing new patches. Various changes to the gameplay and different modes, as well as bug fixes, have been made.
The latest update, Patch 1.08, has now forced the winner of the “FIFA 17 FUT” World Championship to pause his FIFA career. Why is that?
“The game is getting worse and worse”
“The game is getting worse and worse” – this statement was made by Corentin “RocKy” Chevrey in an open letter to his fans on Twitter. Rocky became the champion in the Ultimate Team mode in 2017.
He particularly criticizes the gameplay of FIFA 18, stating it is sluggish, slow, and uncontrollable. The promised improvements by the developers have only worsened the game; he has been struggling through matches for months. Thus, he finds “no motivation to play” and now wants to take a break.
This decision is particularly drastic since the qualification phase for the eWorld Cup is currently ongoing. The best 64 “Weekend League” players on each console have the opportunity to qualify for the 2018 World Championship through a regional tournament.
Rocky is now forgoing the title defense for FIFA 18 World Cup. One factor in this decision will also be his mother’s illness, which he mentioned via Twitter:
“I would rather visit my parents and spend time with my mother than waste time playing a game I hate.”
Update criticized from all sides, but not all bad
Rocky is not the only well-known eSports athlete criticizing FIFA 18. Erhan “Dr. Erhano” Kayman, FIFA eSports player at VFB Stuttgart, is also hard on EA. He particularly criticizes the timing of the patch, which was released just two days before the qualification month on consoles. Thus, he had no time to adapt.
FIFA is being swallowed by Ultimate Team – FUT is supposed to become increasingly important
He receives support from other eSports athletes like Benedikt “SaLz0r” Saltzer. While the updates do lead to improvements, he also finds it “funny” that the entire game system changes, even though only one thing was patched.
What has been improved?
The so-called “kick-off bug” that allowed the kicking team to easily combine toward the opponent’s goal right after the kick-off has been fixed.
Additionally, the so-called “filtering” during Weekend League matches has been prevented. Previously, players could see the opponent’s jersey and escape before facing eSports teams like FC Schalke or VFL Wolfsburg to avoid players like “Tim Latka” or “TimoX”. Today, players get to select their own jersey as well as the opponent’s jersey that will be displayed.
In short: Criticism of the gameplay of FIFA 18 has existed since the release. But with every update the criticism has grown louder. Meanwhile, the criticism is so great that even FIFA World Champion is turning his back on FIFA 18.
Have you also discovered the new features? You can check out the contents of the largest patch so far here: The patch notes for Patch 1.08 for FIFA 18.
