EA Sports FC 24 Release Date Revealed

EA Sports FC 24 was officially unveiled today with a lengthy new gameplay trailer. Electronic Arts gave fans their first look at the game earlier in the week with a teaser, but this one really peeled back the curtain on what fans can expect from the first game since the developer has dropped the FIFA license. While they're not exactly reinventing soccer, EA Sports FC 24 will have some important and intriguing innovations that will build on last year's release. The game is out on September 29 on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms, though fans can purchase the Ulitmate Edition and get in on the early access period that kicks off on September 22.

Many of the things revealed today have been leaked over the last few weeks, so there aren't too many major surprises for anyone who's been paying attention to those accounts. One of the more notable changes is that men and women will be able to play alongside each other in Ultimate Team for the first time ever. EA hasn't explained all of the details for the mode or how women will be incorporated into promo teams, but that info should be announced in the coming weeks. EA also confirmed that Manchester City's Erling Haaland will be the cover athlete for the standard edition of EAFC 24.

We also know that EAFC 24 will introduce a new version of Hypermotion, the technology that powers the animations behind the on-field action. Hypermotion V is said to have 80 times the animations in its database than FIFA 23 has and can capture footage from real games to then implement into the game's animation system "in a matter of days.' The team is also making use of the Sapien technology that EA first introduced when revealing Madden NFL 24. This tech is a full skeleton overhaul that should improve how every player, coach, and ref looks in EA Sports FC 24. And, as with most years, EA Sports is adding several new leagues, including two new women's leagues to really fill out the Women's Champions League roster.

One thing that hasn't been leaked is the introduction of Playstyles. EA claims that this will give key players their real-life skills in a manner similar to X-Factors in Madden. They didn't dive deep into it during the presentation, but will likely drop more info over the course of the next few weeks. EA also talked about a new feature in Ultimate Team called Evolutions. Again, they just mentioned it in passing, but it sounds like you'll get to evolve players throughout the course of the year.

It makes sense that they're holding some things back because this is just the beginning of the EA Sports FC 24 hype cycle. We still have a few months before the game's launch, so expect to hear quite a bit more about it in the coming days. In fact, we should be hearing more about new Icons and Heroes very soon, as many of them have already leaked ahead of today's announcement. Supposedly, players like Bobby Charlton, Vincent Kompany, and Tomas Rosicky are all coming as legends of the game, though those have yet to be confirmed by EA.