EA announces new free-to-play FIFA World for PC
EA unveils FIFA World for Brazil and Russia, with the game designed to be played by those who do not own a console. EA has announced FIFA World, a free-to-play soccer game for PC to be released in Brazil and Russia later this year. The game, being developed by EA Canada, is designed for people in the two countries that do not own a gaming console, and will be based around the FIFA Ultimate Team mode from the main FIFA games.
After the release of the global open beta, EA Sports released version 6.0 of the game on 3 June 2014, with the game's interface redesigned to "bring the spirit and excitement of Brazil" in preparation for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. National teams were also included in the "Single Player Tournaments" mode of the game for the first time, while national team kits were also updated to reflect those to be used at the World Cup. Video sharing was made possible on the game when version 7.0 was released on 22 August 2014. Players are able to select highlights at the end of a match and share them with their friends in-game, as well as on Facebook or YouTube.
FIFA World is a free-to-play FIFA game based around EA Sports' classic football franchise. Announced earlier today, the PC exclusive title will launch in Russia and Brazil this November. Based around the series' FIFA Ultimate Team game mode, it features more than 30 officially licensed leagues and more than 600 clubs.
Right on the heels of the start of a new football season, we bring you one of the biggest updates FIFA World has ever seen. Release 8.0 will update the database with new player ratings, new clubs, new kits, new look items and a whole lot more! The new season starts in FIFA World on September 30th and with it come new player items with updated ratings! The list below shows the top 100 players in FIFA World, based on the new ratings. In FIFA World, you get to keep previous season’s players and use them alongside the Season 2015 players.
Long term, the real question for me is how FIFA World will cope with the other fundamental problem with FIFA's most prosperous game mode: the annual transition. Currently each new FIFA game means a blank slate in FUT - you don't take your in-game coins or players forward from the existing game - and while this is irritating for users it works well for EA, because the business people don't have to worry about users retaining their best squads and running out of reasons to buy packs.
Perhaps the biggest difference is that goals feel less thrilling in FIFA World. It's possible to find the net from range, but spectacular efforts are harder to conjure up than they have become in the main series, while close-range goals often feel rather soft, coming from low, scuffed drives or by passing the ball round the keeper to another striker. With that in mind, I'm not sure it's "an optimal experience" yet, although it has enough of the FIFA DNA to keep you going across dozens of matches, during which you'll still encounter various spectacular moments. (The unique controls EA mentioned, incidentally, are keyboard-only and keyboard-and-mouse affairs, although I found both to be much less efficient and flexible than plugging in a trusty old Xbox 360 gamepad.)
In all, FIFA World has over 16,000 players and 600 clubs from more than 30 officially licensed leagues. Supported languages are: English, German, French, Russian, Mexican, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, and Turkish. Game modes include Seasons, Accomplishments, Tournaments, and Match Invites, where you can play head-to-head against friends. FIFA World's global beta arrives after EA held four closed beta sessions and a limited open beta for the game. In total, more than 1.5 million people registered to play in that time, EA said.
