EA Sports has long held the crown for football gams, but it could be set to lose out big time to Football Manager 2025 later this year. EA Sports FC needs to step up the quality of its game or it'll lose serious ground to FM25.
The year may be young, but 2024 could well be a pivotal year for EA Sports FC. Football Manager has never been a direct rival of EA Sports' football games, but that could be about to change.
FM25 will see a new revolutionary game engine entering the series, meaning it'll have the potential for better graphics and an even more realistic simulation. What will this mean for the series formerly known as FIFA? Well, it probably won't be good news.
EA FC v FM25
Football is the most popular sport in the world, so it's surprising that there are only three main official games for the beautiful game.
Of course, there are hundreds of indie games available, but EA Sports FC, eFootball and Football Manager are the main three. Out of these as well, EA FC and FM are the only games that are released annually and require you to pay for.
Until now, though, Football Manager and EA FC (as well as its predecessor FIFA) have occupied different sub-genres of football games. EA has focused on flashy gameplay with striking graphics and eye-catching game modes like Ultimate Team.
FM meanwhile is heavily focused on simulation and realism while having as many leagues, clubs and players as possible within its database. If these were racing games, FC would be an arcade title, while FM is a simulator.
Football Manager revolution
So, both franchises have been allowed to grow relatively independently of each other, but there are huge changes on the horizon for FM. Football Manager 2025 sees the Unity engine introduced to the series.
FM has traditionally been a game where graphics were very much secondary to realism. That is about to change though, as the Unity engine will be a huge step up in terms of power compared to the graphics engine which it uses currently.
It won't be as high-res and detailed as EA Sports FC's Frostbite engine, but the gap will be significantly closed compared to what it is now.
What's even worse for EA Sports, is that FM is beginning to enter the console market. Traditionally, FM was primarily a PC game, but increasingly, Sports Interactive are placing a greater emphasis on other console systems.
Football Manager 2025 will be competing directly with EA Sports FC on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch. There's every possibility that EA FC will miss the old-gen PS4 and Xbox One too, so FM25 could be a last-gen exclusive in this regard.
Even Netflix subscribers can get in on the action, as they get a free copy of Football Manager Mobile alongside for their monthly fee.
By comparison, EA Sports FC usually retails for at least £69.99 on release in the UK and that's even before you get into the money pit that is Ultimate Team.
EA only have themselves to blame
It's hard to feel sorry for EA though, as they've only got themselves to blame when it comes to the decline of FIFA and now EA Sports FC. If EA Sports FC was anywhere near the level of FIFA's glory days, it would have nothing to worry about.
However, the EA Sports football games are a long way from that and its problems are well documented.
In the past, EA Sports was able to bank upon a lack of competition from rivals and an instantly recognisable IP in "FIFA", but the series has neither of these advantages anymore.
This ensured that FIFA and now EA Sports FC would always sell well and make a profit, even before the game's microtransactions continued to rake in revenue for the American video game giants.
Resting on their laurels for the best part of a decade has ruined the EA football franchise's reputation, but this is something that has gone unpunished. For now.
A lack of innovation when it comes to their main game modes in Career Mode, Ultimate Team and Be a Pro will come to bite EA FC if that isn't changed this year.
It's not all bad news, though
There are a few advantages that EA Sports FC has over Football Manager that won't change, even with the introduction of the Unity engine to FM. The graphics, for example, will be better in EA FC than FM.
EA also has far more licencing deals when it comes to the leagues, clubs and players than FM has. While SI can get around this with some clever name changes, fake badges and blank outlines of players' faces, it is never as good as the real thing.
There is also the possibility that SI could bite off more than they can chew when it comes to the scope of FM25. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, as they say, so SI could overreach when it comes to FM25's features.
But, even with that in mind, EA Sports FC has been a buggy mess in its first few days and weeks of release most years. While these are often quickly patched, it really hurts the reputation and immersion of the game for new and returning gamers.
So, 2024 could be the most pivotal year for football video games in decades, as there's a very strong chance it'll dictate the industry for years to come.