The developers at EA Sports have responded to criticism of FC 24’s graphics following the release of the Ultimate Edition cover.
EA Sports’ FC 24 will usher in a new era for EA’s football simulation games, replacing the FIFA series after the company’s exclusivity partnership with the FIFA governing body ended.
There will be two editions of EA FC 24 as far as we know: Standard and Ultimate. The cover for the Standard Edition features Erling Haaland on his own. In contrast, the cover for the Ultimate Edition, as revealed on July 10, features over 30 stars from football history.
While the renders for some stars, like David Beckham, were praised as accurate and life-like, others, like Bukayo Saka and Marquinhos, were criticized and even ridiculed online.
The criticism didn’t go unnoticed over at EA HQ, with the game’s developers addressing the criticism specifically during FC 24’s official reveal.
Mat Prior, Senior Game Design Director working on FC 24, explained that the cover was deliberately ambitious and he doesn’t think players will have any problems when they get their hands on the game and see every render for themselves.
Answering a question about whether players should be worried about the graphics, he said: “No, is the short answer. The cover was a very ambitious cover. It’s the first time we’ve had 31 athletes on the cover, so obviously a lot of things to wrangle there. But we’re very proud of that, because what it represents is such a cross section of ambassadors across the world of football.”
He explained that the choice for the cover was made to showcase the number of leagues, clubs and stars that will feature, before finishing: “I think once you get into game, if there is any lingering concerns, I encourage everyone to see those players in game, in action, in Hypermotion, in Frostbite. And I don’t think anyone will have any concerns when they see them actually in the game.”
It was a pretty unequivocal response from the developers, but it is fair to say that one of the least complained about aspects of recent FIFA iterations has been the graphics. With the leap forward in motion capture technology that EA FC 24 brings, we doubt it will be an issue when the game launches. Barring any delays, that’ll be September 29, 2023.
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