EA Sports FC Mobile

EA Sports FC Mobile (commonly known as FC Mobile and formerly known as FIFA Mobile until September 26, 2023) is an association football simulation video game developed by EA Mobile and EA Canada and published by EA Sports for global version, Tencent Games for Chinese version and Nexon for Japanese and Korean versions for iOS and Android. It was released on 11 October 2016 as a replacement to the FIFA Ultimate Team mobile games, for iOS and Android. Microsoft Windows was also included until 2017. It was announced on 16 August 2016, during Gamescom 2016.

EA Sports FC Mobile
EA Sports FC Mobile cover during the early stages of its release, featuring Real Madrid's Vinícius Júnior
Developer(s)	EA Mobile EA Canada
Publisher(s)	WW: EA Sports CHN: Tencent Games JPN & KOR: Nexon
Producer(s)	Matt Lafreniere
Series	FIFA (2016-2023) EA Sports FC (2023-present)
Engine	FIFA 08 (2016-2018) Impact (2018-present)
Platform(s)	iOS iPadOS Android
Release	WW: 11 October 2016 EA Sports FC Mobile: WW: 26 September 2023
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

The player begins by creating a personal team, in which the players correspond to real players whether present or past. Players are obtained by competing in and completing daily quests, games, or events, or can be purchased on the transfer market, exchange market, or in-game store. Alongside these ways of obtaining players; the in-game currency of coins, gems, and seasonal tokens can all also be obtained, which can be spent in the previously mentioned markets. The personal team is used for PvP matches in Division Rivals and some Live Events. Other Live Event matches and Tournament matches have the player use a real team to play.

Division Rivals

There are different types of Division Rivals matches, with them being VS Attack, Head to Head, and Manager Mode.

VS Attack The game has a "VS Attack" mode, better known as VSA, in which players play the different offensive stages of a match only, and the difficulty level of the chances is decided by the team OVR. The VS Attack mode features an asynchronous turn-based multiplayer. Apart from VS Attack, there are also other Division Rivals multiplayer gamemodes, being Head to Head and Manager Mode.

Head to Head Head to Head, or more commonly known as H2H, is a PVP match in which a player plays a full 90-minute match. However, the time is sped up, so fulltime will take about six to eight minutes. If the score is tied by the end of the match, the game will not go into extra time. The only gamemode where it is possible to go into extra time is when the player is playing against the AI or another player in Tournaments or PVP.

Manager Mode Manager Mode(MM) is a gamemode where the AI will play against each other instead of the player manually controlling the players on the pitch. The idea of MM is more focused on tactics than skill.

As a reward for playing the match, the player will receive Uniserval Tokens depending on the results of the match. In VSA, the number of fans changes. In H2H, the number of cups changes, and in MM the number of points changes.

VS Friends There is also another section called VS Friends, where the player can play a VSA or H2H match against a friend.

As the name suggests, there are different divisions in Division Rivals. This is so as to split the players of different levels of gamelplay. When the player reaches a certain number of "fans", cups or points, the division will increase. Every 28 days, the divisions will reset.

Live Events

The game also features Live Events themed on recent real world events, as well as mini games based on skills such as shooting, passing, dribbling and goalkeeping. Examples of events that are based on happenings in the real world:

• UEFA Champions League (since FIFA Mobile 19),
• CONMEBOL Libertadores (since FC Mobile 24),
• FIFA World Cup (appeared only in FIFA Mobile 18 and FIFA Mobile 23),
• UEFA European Championship (since FC Mobile 24),
• Copa América (since FC Mobile 24)
• Premier League
• La Liga
• Ligue 1
• Bundesliga
• and other different leagues throughout the world.

Current Events

Current Events in-game include

• Día de Muertos (Until 14 November 2024)
• Trick or Treat (Until 21 November 2024)
• CONMEBOL Libertadores (Until 12 December 2024)
• Ballon D'or (Until 23 December)
• Icon Chronicles: Hexad (Until 31 December 2025)
• Icon Chronicles (Until 31 December 2025)

Tournament Mode

Starting from FIFA Mobile 23, the game featured Tournament Mode, themed on several real life football events, such as the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League, and the UEFA Euro 2024 (the latter two events were appeared in EA Sports FC Mobile 24).

Development and release

EA announced the game on August 16, 2016, during Gamescom 2016 and the game was released worldwide on October 11, 2016, for iOS, Android, and Microsoft Windows. In November 2017, EA ended support for FIFA Mobile on Windows devices. In 2018, Tencent Games released the Chinese version of the game. In 2020, Nexon released the Korean and Japanese version of the game.

FIFA Mobile 17

On June 23, 2016, EA Sports announced that the J1 League and J.League Cup would be featured in the game for the first time. On September 4, 2016, EA Sports announced at Brasil Game Show 2016 that 19 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A teams will be featured in their respective league (Corinthians and Flamengo, who signed an exclusivity deal with Konami for Pro Evolution Soccer, do not appear). Five Série B teams are also in the game. The Brazilian teams in the game have generic player names which the user cannot change.

FIFA Mobile 18

FIFA Mobile 18 was announced by EA Sports for Global version in 2017 and Tencent Games for Chinese version in 2018. It features the third tier of Germany's Bundesliga, the 3. Liga, and has again included the Turkish Süper Lig after EA renewed its licence with them. The Chinese version have several differences compared to the Global version, such as the introduction of Head to Head, which later adopted in FIFA Mobile 19 Global version.

FIFA Mobile 19

FIFA Mobile 19 introduces the UEFA Champions League. It was confirmed that the game would have a licensed Serie A. The game will include the CSL, the first FIFA title to do so. However, it was confirmed that the game will not include the Russian Premier League, as it did in FIFA Mobile 18 and previous FIFA Mobile versions. The Russian Premier League teams PFC CSKA Moscow, Spartak Moscow, and Lokomotiv Moscow were kept, while Dinamo Zagreb, Dynamo Kyiv, Slavia Praha, and Viktoria Plzen were added to the game. Boca Juniors appears as Buenos Aires FC in the game since the club signed a deal with Konami; for the same reasons, Colo-Colo appears as CD Viñazur. Once again, due to Konami securing deals with certain Brazilian clubs, the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A is featured in an incomplete form, this time with only 15 clubs, with the notable omissions of São Paulo, Palmeiras, Corinthians, Flamengo and Vasco da Gama, all of which are Konami partners. The remaining Brazilian clubs, while appearing with licensed branding, do not have any of their players licensed due to an ongoing judicial dispute over image rights, which are negotiated individually with each player, unlike other countries.

After two previous season use old FIFA 08 engine, the game changed to Impact Engine for the first time, which was previously used for the mobile version of FIFA 16 Ultimate Team.

FIFA Mobile 20

The game featured more than 30 official leagues, over 700 clubs and over 17,000 players. It included for the first time the Romanian Liga 1 and its 16 teams and also the Indian Super League (ISL) with all of its 11 clubs, as well as UAE club, Al Ain, who were added following extensive requests from the fans in the region.

In 2020, Nexon announced the Korean and Japanese version of FIFA Mobile, which differ in terms of graphics and gameplay like the Chinese version.

FIFA Mobile 21

FIFA Mobile 21 was released on 2 November 2020. This season of FIFA Mobile saw the addition of the League Matchups mode. The Chinese, Japanese and Korean version also have another major changes in terms of graphics and new Impact Engine gameplay, which later adopted to FIFA Mobile 22 Global version.

FIFA Mobile 22

EA Sports announced the arrival of FIFA Mobile 22 for Android and iOS devices. This season of FIFA Mobile made more changes in terms of graphics and gameplay similar to the Chinese, Japanese and Korean version of FIFA Mobile 21. A new market system was introduced. Regions were also added based on location, with players only being able to play with others in their region. The 2022 update also saw the removal of 'Stamina'. Clubs such as Ferencvárosi TC, Hajduk Split, Wrexham FC, and APOEL FC were added to the game. EA released its FIFA Mobile 22 on 18 January 2022.

FIFA Mobile 23

The final FIFA Mobile 23 cover, featuring (from left to right) Raúl, Javier Zanetti and Steven Gerrard, respectively

In November 2022, FIFA Mobile 23 (the final season until the game was changed as EA Sports FC Mobile) was released as a season update of FIFA Mobile 22, with several changes such as Advanced Passing and the Squads would not be reset after season update. FIFA Mobile 23 was the first and only version that featured the 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament mode.

In 2023, the Chinese, Japanese and Korean version had another update in terms of gameplay graphics, which later were adopted to the successor EA Sports FC Mobile.

UTOTS Glitch

UTOTS stands for Ultimate Team Of The Season, featuring the best players out of the main Team Of The Season in every top 5 European leagues. On June 13, 2023, there was a glitch that affected a pack in the new UTOTS event. Instead of the pack having a very small chance of containing one of the UTOTS players and hundreds of millions of coins, it was guaranteed to contain those rewards. Although the glitch was patched in about an hour, the market was flooded with coins and people had the best teams in the game. EA responded by giving everyone who didn't open a glitched pack one UTOTS player and TOTS player. EA also shut down the market for multiple hours. Eventually, all players who used the glitch had their coins reset to 200M.

EA Sports FC Mobile 24

In 2023, EA Sports FC Mobile succeeded the FIFA Mobile game series in the launch of EA Sports FC Mobile 24 on 21 September for the Chinese version, 22 September for the Korean version, 23 September for the Japanese version, and 26 September for the global version. Following the split between EA and FIFA, features included cross-regional play, power shots, new skills, the return of a global market, and a new UEFA Champions League tournament mode. FC Mobile also included CONMEBOL Libertadores for the first time as a Live Event.

In April 2024, the game had another major update, which included a gameplay graphics improvement and new Spectator Mode.

On June 11, 2024, the game had another new update, which featured UEFA Euro 2024 tournament mode and Live Event. Later, FC Mobile also included 2024 Copa América for the first time as a Live Event.

EA Sports FC Mobile 25

EA Sports FC Mobile 25 is the season update of EA Sports FC Mobile 24 to celebrate first anniversary since FIFA Mobile was renamed as EA Sports FC Mobile, launched on September 24th, 2024. Just like FIFA Mobile 23, the Squads would not be reset after season update. This season saw the addition of new mode called Club Challenge, in which player compete against other users in head to head matches like Head to Head mode, except with clubs from several leagues around the world, such as Premier League, La Liga and CONMEBOL Libertadores.

References