First with FIFA and then with EA Sports FC, it is clear that the sports series created by Electronic Arts is the most famous, popular and appreciated among players. To put it even more bluntly, EA currently has a monopoly or almost on football games and even wants to rest on its laurels a bit. Without a rival on the market at the same level, consequently the incentives to always do better are lacking and it is no coincidence that with each edition the accusations of proposing a “reheated soup” with each edition become more vocal. Of course in this case the blame also lies with the competition, namely PES / eFootball by Konami, which has scored a series of own goals over the years that have relegated it to a position that certainly cannot intimidate Electronic Arts.
However, things could change in the future, or perhaps even this year, with the entry of new rivals that could potentially spice up this competition, with all the advantages that this brings for players. One is already making fans talk about itself, namely UFL, the other is the much talked about FIFA 2K25, a new soccer game made by 2K (the same company that made NBA 2K and other highly successful sports titles) born precisely thanks to the divorce between EA Sports and FIFA.
David versus Goliath?
We have talked about UFL several times on our pages. It is a free-to-play game created by Strikerz Inc., a studio that appeared out of nowhere a few years ago but was able to quickly assemble a large and ambitious development team. The game has shown off some excellent qualities, but has also been hit by numerous delays. But now we should be there: the launch is scheduled for autumn this year and just a few hours ago a beta was announced open to all interested players that will take place this weekend on PS5 and Xbox Series X | S, which should give us a fairly clear picture of the potential of this title.
FIFA 2K25, on the other hand, we have not seen it in action, it has not been announced, but we can take its existence almost for granted. We recall that Gianni Infantino himself, president of FIFA, at the time of the divorce with EA Sports FC had spoken of collaborations with “the main publishers, media companies and investors for the development of a new important FIFA simulation football title for 2024”. In this sense, the most plausible candidate has always been 2K Sports, considering the great experience of the software house in the sports genre, and in recent months clues have arrived from unofficial sources.
In the middle I could also mention GOALS, another free-to-play title that has somewhat disappeared from the radar, but which should arrive next year, and hope for an exponential growth of eFootball, but the two titles mentioned above at the moment seem to be the ones with the greatest potential. In reality, just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, I doubt that both UFL and FIFA 2K will even manage to scratch the armor of EA Sports FC, which despite the criticisms, it must be given credit for currently having a very solid base, the most convincing game system on the market, a large number of modes, multi-year licensing agreements with important teams (see the latest ones announced with SSC Napoli and AS Roma) and an extremely loyal fanbase. And this last one is perhaps also the most difficult obstacle to overcome for newcomers. Even if they turn out to be excellent titles, it will take time to get going and make a name for themselves among the public, but then again, you have to start somewhere, right?
Dusan Vlahovic in EA Sports FC 25
In short, in a few years the panorama of football games could expand and change with the debut of new brands, and this regardless is good for the panorama. And what do you think, will someone be able to interrupt the dominance of EA Sports football simulations? Or has the advantage accumulated made EA Sports FC unreachable for the competition?
This is an editorial written by a member of the editorial staff and is not necessarily representative of the editorial line of Aroged.
