EA reveals a new trailer for soccer sim FIFA 21 and confirms a major new gameplay feature for its FIFA Ultimate Team mode. The new trailer stars French national team and Paris Saint-Germain player Kylian Mbappe, who has also been confirmed as the FIFA 21 cover star.
Ahead of a full reveal in August, EA has released a FIFA 21 "reveal" trailer. The trailer is not what fans were expecting as it largely features footage of Mbappe and other French national team players enjoying FIFA 21 at home, interspersed with short glimpses of real FIFA 21 gameplay. Mbappe, Borussia Dortmund player Erling Haarland, and Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold can all be seen hitting the back of the onion bag before performing some celebrations. There's also a very small look at a career mode sim, with player numbers moving around the pitch behind a meditating Haarland.
While the FIFA 21 reveal trailer may not have been very informative, EA has released some more information on the game's official site. The company confirms that its hugely popular FIFA Ultimate Team mode will have co-op gameplay in FIFA 21. The description for the feature says that players will be able to team up in Division Rivals and Squad Battles to earn weekly progress together and there will be Co-Op Objectives "that reward playing together beyond winning on the pitch."
EA also teased "new and expanded ways" for players to customize the way that their FUT Club will look "on the pitch and in the stands." It's unclear what these customization features will look like but given the revenue that EA makes from FUT's microtransactions, they're unlikely to be free or cheap.
FIFA 21 will also add to the Volta street football feature first released with FIFA 20 last year. Volta Squads allows players to play with three other friends in 5v5 matches online, there will be new ways for players to customize their characters, and Featured Battles let players add some of the "biggest names" in football to their Volta Squad. Given that Mbappe is on the cover of the game, expect him to be one of the recruits seen most often in this mode.
Another thing that EA is teasing is more "authenticity." FIFA 21 will have more than 700 teams and more than 17,000 "authentic" players. This is no surprise as FIFA is so authentic that its crowd noise is used in real soccer matches, but fans will be glad to have it confirmed.
FIFA 21 will release on October 9th and is coming to PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: EA