EA Sports FC 25 is introducing a new system for the game’s tactical play, and we have a feeling this will be divisive.
FC IQ is a new tactical system, which EA’s developers claim will allow them to get more in depth, to the level of being a football manager, on top of operating the players on the field. The prior game introduced systems like HyperMotion V and Play Styles, and this build up on that.
As explained by WCCFTech, Play Styles are roles that players take when they have the ball in their possession. Now, FC IQ is adding Player Roles. Player Roles let you assign a role a player takes when they aren’t in control of the ball. Goalkeepers don’t get additional roles, but for example, players like Wide Midfielders can be assigned as Wingers, Wide Playmakers, or an Inside Forward.
Furthermore, each Player Role can be assigned one of three Focuses. For example, an athlete with a Player Role of Playmaker, can then be given the Focus of Roaming. The Roaming Focus tells that athlete to more around more freely across the green. If this all sounds complicated, that’s the point. That’s where EA Sports FC 25 players become team managers aside from controlling the athletes to take the ball to the goal.
So where’s the controversy? As EA themselves admit, FC IQ’s Player Roles system has been built on AI. Let’s be specific and explain this all out. EA bought data from sports analytics company Opta Sports, of all the players that they have in EA Sports FC 25, across the different leagues they play in.
EA then used a proprietary AI model, that they built with that Opta Data, to generate the stats for how well each player does with a given Player Role. For example, the promising 21 year old Jude Bellingham, who plays for England’s national team, and Real Madrid, is 75 % Half-Winger, 14 % Shadow Striker, and 11 % Playmaker. Knowing this would help players make better decisions on how to use Bellingham’s video game counterpart in game.
So there it is. If you were one of those gamers wary and skeptical of the use of modern AI technology, EA is already using it for their sports games. EA told us they were very interested in finding applications of the technology just months ago, and it seems that they were only teasing what they already did with this game a little early.
Of course, there’s many kinds of AI, and EA must have been dabbling in similar technology before the rise of OpenAI. And we should be clear that this application did not involve stealing any data from artists. The data acquired by Optus is based on what they have observed when these players actually played, and that opens a completely different can of worms. But admittedly, the conversation here would have to be completely different.
Instead, our immediate concern would be the energy expenditure of this EA Sports FC 25’s AI model, and if it’s something they plan to use again in the future. There is no doubt already a huge carbon cost to having thousands of developers make a multimillion dollar video game franchise.
We don’t expect players to stop playing their favorite football game over this, but surely, as consumers, the gamers need to be asking EA questions on this right now.
