FIFA 22: EA Has Broken Division Rivals

EA has been releasing pretty similar FIFA games every year and FIFA 22 is no different. However, where you’d expect that with yearly incremental updates there would be subtle improvements, this year there have been some serious missteps.

For those who don’t know, FIFA’s biggest game mode is FIFA Ultimate Team. In this mode, players can build any team they like using any player in the game that they want. It is far and away the most popular mode in FIFA. It has been that way for several years. Each year, EA adds some improvements but the core format doesn’t really change. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

This has generally led to a gradual improvement over the years. New ways to play Ultimate Team have been added, new ways to earn rewards and build teams, etc. One of those additions in the last few years has been Division Rivals. If Ultimate Team is the most popular game mode, Division Rivals is the most popular way to play within the mode.

For some inexplicable reason, in FIFA 22, EA has decided to completely nuke this mode. Division Rivals allows you to play with your team and rank up or down depending on how good you are. In previous games, most players would rank up to a division that suits them and go up or down divisions every now and then depending on how well they play. I myself am typically a division 4 or 3 player. If I play well for a few games in a row, I will get up to division 3. If I have a bad time, I may go down to division 4. Now, in FIFA 22, EA has removed the ability to go down a division. That means if you have a good run you can get stuck in a division that’s far above your skill level and there’s no way to get back down. Therefore, multitudes of players are getting themselves into positions where they essentially can’t play division rivals anymore. That is unless they feel like losing over and over and over again.

This has completely broken the game mode for pretty much every player who likes Division Rivals. Without the ability to go up and down, all players will eventually get to a point where there is zero reason for them to play the game anymore. It’s a massive oversight on EA’s part and hopefully one that is fixed soon.