FIFA 21 is set to be the biggest soccer-based game release of the year. The FIFA franchise has managed to dominate the gaming competition through its fun gameplay and licensing deals which allow players to enjoy the likeness of the vast majority of teams and players. However, the last iterations of the FIFA series have been criticized for not adapting to gamer expectations. It is unclear whether FIFA 21 can remedy this, but it is taking action to stop some of the annoying aspects that feature in online gameplay.
Many will be keen to see how FIFA 21 adapts to the challenges of the next-generation and whether it can adapt to please a greater amount of its player base. Like any game, the online aspects of FIFA can anger players, whether it's server problems or the opposition. To keep players focused on the experience and not on other players two celebrations have now been removed. Although some are skeptical about how effective this will be.
The "shush" and "A-OK" celebration are being removed from the upcoming title and the team behind FIFA have discussed the reasoning behind the decision. Lead gameplay producer Sam Rivera said, "We were told by the community that there's toxic behaviors in the game, and we wanted to make sure we removed them." The decision to pick the two celebrations specifically seems to have been made after consulting players of the game as Rivera stated, "we removed some of the celebrations that people thought were not the best idea to have in the game." While this move may help players resist the urge to antagonize one another, this kind of behavior will likely adapt and players will use new provoking celebrations in FIFA 21 as the game is highly competitive.
Some players will undoubtedly appreciate the fact that toxic aggregation will be harder now, but many will hope that larger issues that impacted previous games will be addressed. The previous iterations had such large issues with its defense systems and servers that there have already been calls to boycott FIFA 21. With this in mind, it seems that the game will have to improve on its issues as well as addressing the problems that exist within its fan base.
FIFA 21 is excluding elements like VAR as well as celebrations and this seems to be in an attempt to keep players engaged with the gameplay rather than peripheral factors. However, if these changes do increase the focus on the gameplay then the way the title operates will likely need to be improved upon to keep the vocal fan base happy.
FIFA 21 will release on October 9th for PC, PS4, and Xbox One and is also in development for PS5, Stadia, and Xbox Series X.
Source: Eurogamer