Football Ground Map
Football Ground Map
Being the first departure from the FIFA branding, many wondered whether FC24 would land the same impressive numbers as the previous instalments in the legendary footballing sim. Especially since it was clear that the success of FC24 would define the future of EA's footballing franchise. In this article we'll take a look at whether FC24 could be considered a success, and whether we can expect to see an FC25 coming out this summer.
Defining the success of FC24 isn't a cut-and-dry kind of task. There are a number of ways in which the game could be considered a success or failure. Ranging from the commercial income and number of players to critical reception and player sentiment. Let's break these down a bit into what worked and what didn't.
FC24 deserves applause for a number of achievements across the board.
First, let's look at the technical. At launch, EA allowed players who pre-ordered the ultimate edition to play one week early. And they recorded 6.8 million players diving into this early access mode. That's 25% more than those who jumped into FIFA23 early access. Not only that, but at retail prices that suggests that EA made US$680 million from early access alone which is majority from FC coins. While EA hasn't published the cost of developing FC24, from games industry standards it's fair to assume it was quite a bit less than that-especially without needing to fork out on the FIFA branding. That means that EA have almost definitely made a sweet profit on the game-and that's even before considering Ultimate Team microtransactions and more.
That said, overall sales appeared to be around 30% lower than that of FIFA 23-at least back in October. Resulting in a smaller player count overall. That said, this might be a result of some of the drawbacks of the game which we will cover in a moment.
Turning to the game itself; FC24 introduced a slew of new features including advanced AI-powered opponents, immersive career modes, and cross-platform play. While the newly motion-captured animations added a new life to players all over the pitch. So there are tonnes of technical in-game improvements to be found as well.
But no video game comes with a clean sheet. Soon after launch players were already complaining about some performance hiccups on certain platforms, alongside the occasional animation glitches which, although providing a tonne of comedic value, interrupted games and caused some unexpected results.
Not only that but players also complained about the balance between fun and realism was off; perhaps moving too far towards realism, resulting in the fun-factor being lost. However, this has been a long-term trend in the FIFA franchise.
Finally, some players also simply didn't think FC24 innovated enough compared to other titles-offering up little over the previous instalment and thus making the purchase of the full price game not quite worth it.
So, the big question is did FC24 succeed as a game? If we're looking from EA's perspective, I think we can answer that with a confident "yes". The game performed well commercially and received a decent amount of buzz and positive critical feedback.
That said, some players are still holding on to FIFA23 as the superior game, asking EA to do more to bring them into the new face of the franchise.
While there is little official information about FC25, it's this writer's opinion that, yes, we will definitely be seeing an FC25. EA have cranked out annual FIFA games since the mid-1990s, and there's no reason for them to stop now. Especially off the back of FC24's commercial success. Of course, there's no guarantee as the gaming industry is full of shocks, delays and cancellations. But being one of gaming's biggest and most long standing franchises, chances are we will be seeing FC25 drop sometime in Q4 of 2024.
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