A short while ago we wrote about how EA will be ending their collaboration with FIFA, after the soon-to-be-released FIFA 23. In essence, not much is going to change with the new move. The larger leagues will still be a part of the game, including their teams and players, as will the commentaries and official stadiums.

With that being said, it would would still be nice if the leading publisher left the name behind in style and finally address the myriad of issues that have plagued the franchise over the years. We thought it a great time to highlight what we would like to see fixed going forward.

Ultimate Team Disconnects

If there’s one thing that really belongs in this article, it’s the apparent lack of players unable to finish a game after going one or two goals behind. Whether it be through a complete lack of faith in their teams and their personal ability, or through a good old-fashioned rage quit – it ruins the experience for those that don’t like to quit and like to enjoy a full game of soccer, regardless of the scoreboard.

This happens so often that it has long reached a point where we subconsciously hold back on scoring a goal to take us two ahead, through fear of an early disconnect. Furthermore, these tinpot gamers ruin any kind of real sense of accomplishment as goals are so quickly followed by feelings of apprehension as you wait for your opponent to quit.

The DNF Penalty Clearly isn’t Enough

“There’s a DNF penalty, though”, I can almost hear you collectively yell. Yes, there is; it just clearly isn’t enough. Players who already have their team exactly as they want it, aren’t worried about coins, just as the promise of coins isn’t enough of a carrot to entice the rage quitters through to the bitter end.

Instead, a new system should be introduced. A system that actively punishes all players for bowing out disgracefully might just be enough to lessen these worries and encourage players to pull their socks up and tighten their laces to fight for a stylish comeback.

We are all well aware that connections drop and kids accidentally turn the router off when charging their tablets (OK, maybe that’s jut mine), and this would need to be taken into consideration. So, that leaves us with one ideal solution: relegate people for X amount of back-to-back disconnects, or simply stop them playing Ultimate Team Rivals for 24-hours.

Player-to-Player Communication

Pro Evolution Soccer always had a feature that allowed you to select a response to goals from a pre-written selection and we’ve always wondered why the FIFA franchise never followed suit. With the lack of voice chat during Rivals matches, we’ve never been able to congratulate an opponent on a rocket-driven goal or making a comeback. Yes, we can message them after the game, but this somehow feels intrusive.

Why FIFA are yet to implement some sort of non-verbal communication is beyond us, but we would love to see one in games to come.

Fitness Levels

Since FIFA 20, EA dropped the fitness gauges from players and fitness cards. While having our players with limited energy levels was a huge annoyance at the time, we can’t help but miss them. They added a much-needed depth to Ultimate Team. We actually had to use the reserves bench for it’s intended purpose, rather than to showcase players that don’t fit in with the team’s chemistry.

We remember having our full first team too unfit to play, so we had to use our B team while our stars of the show recuperated. This reflects real-life soccer and should be reintroduced in future soccer games. It gets boring using the same team over and over again, but when they’re you’re best players and have limitless energy, there’s seldom any need to switch things up.

Summary

The FIFA franchise has held soccer fans the world over and has fast become the soccer franchise. Yet, these issues seem to go unaddressed and stagnate for future titles. While the above is a selection of our opinions, we understand that not everybody will feel the same. Feel free to drop a comment and tell us what you would like to see in future soccer titles, or even to disagree with the above.