EA is making lofty promises for EA Sports FC 26, emphasizing its use of community feedback to drive changes to the series' formula -- and it went into more detail on that in its latest deep dive.
AI player positioning has been overhauled for the upcoming game, with goalkeepers being a special focus. Shot-stoppers should maintain more natural positions in FC 26.
Similar to how Madden NFL 26 is adding new abilities and roles this year, FC 26 will offer more variety with additional Playstyles and Player Roles. Power Header, Aerial, Trivela and Flair are gone from the game with Enforcer, Aerial Enforcement, Precision Header, Gamechanger and Inventive coming in as new styles. They include some reworked elements of the removed styles, but the developers wanted to reduce the overall overlap between the available options. New roles such as Wide Back, Box Crasher and Ball-Playing Keeper open up tactical opportunities.
EA FC 26 will also introduce two gameplay presets that dramatically alter the experience. The Competitive Preset will be tuned to multiplayer matches and feature aspects such as faster passing, smarter goalkeepers, and more direct player control to preserve the skill-based nature of the game. The Authentic Preset, on the other hand, will cater towards solo players, who want to experience more realistic action on the pitch during their runs in Career Mode. This includes more positionally-responsible defenders, realistic corner success rates, and lifelike goalmouth scrambles, among other elements, such as visible weather effects. A lot of these options are customizable for Career Mode runs, so players can experiment and set things up in a way that suits them individually.
EA FC 26 will feature several new Skill Moves as well, such as an Explosive Stepover, Advanced Heel Flick and an Elastico Variation. Some existing moves have been adjusted or simplified.
Football Ultimate Team is getting a refresh, including a second-tier weekend competition called Challengers as well as a focus on tournaments and live events with themed competitions and content. Bounties offer new ways to earn weekly rewards and gain resources to build up a team.
Seemingly inspired by the F1 series, EA is introducing Live Challenges to Manager Career. Based on real-life scenarios and fictional storylines, these mission chains can range from a couple of minutes of playtime to several seasons to complete. They'll offer a ton of in-game rewards in return. Soccer isn't a static sport, and EA hopes to reflect that in the game by having teams' playstyles change over time in Manager Career when new managers take over a club.