The disaster of EA & FC 25

I’m nothing more than a casual gamer. To be honest, until last year which I played some AAA games on PS5, I never had finished any games in my life. Why? Because I couldn’t and that’s for another day :)

I’ve seen my fair share of buggy code, I did my fair share of contributions. But nothing prepared me for the rollercoaster that are FC (previously Fifa) games these years. You know it’s bad when practice repos on GitHub—maintained by solo devs in their spare time—are more stable than a game that costs tens of euros.

Déjà Vu All Over Again.

First off, let’s address the elephant in the room: FC 25 feels very similar to FIFA 23, but with more bugs and a few extra features that no one asked for. It’s like they copy-pasted last year’s codebase, sprinkled in some new glitches for flavor, and called it a day. As a developer, I get that reusing code is efficient, but come on! at least fix the existing issues before rolling out a new version. Is that too much to ask to show the current score of the game? Or not having to restart the game because it says there is no opponent?

One of the “exciting” new features is Rush mode. The concept sounded promising—a fast-paced game where you team up with random players. In reality, it’s a free-for-all where teamwork goes to die. Players refuse to pass the ball, each one desperate to score goals themselves. It’s less “rush” and more “every person for themselves.” It reminds me of those group projects where one person tries to do everything while ignoring the rest of the team, except everyone is that person.

Unlike games like Fortnite, where your hard-earned progress carries over year after year, FC 25 wipes the slate clean annually. All the time, effort, and possibly money you’ve invested? Gone with the wind when the next installment drops. It’s disheartening to pour hours into building the ultimate team, only to lose everything and start from scratch every single year. In an age where games are moving towards persistent worlds and ongoing progression, this feels like a step backward. Of course they don’t agree, as they see it as a casino which the only winner is EA.

As someone who spends days debugging code, I can’t help but feel a mix of frustration and irony. I get it Software development is hard, and bugs slip through. But when indie devs and open-source contributors are outshining major studios in terms of stability and user experience, it’s a sign that something’s off in the industry.

Maybe it’s time we start holding these big studios accountable. If free projects on GitHub can offer stable, enjoyable experiences without charging an arm and a leg, why can’t multi-million-dollar franchises do the same? Until then, I might just stick to those open-source games and projects. At least there, I know the community and developers are genuinely invested in creating something worthwhile.

So here’s to hoping FC 26 learns from these mistakes. But if history is any indicator, I won’t hold my breath. I will probably try it again, as I love football and anything around it.