Speaking at the Gamescom conference in August 2024, the first change that Rivera felt compelled to mention was the addition of Rush, a new 5-a-side experience that will replace the outgoing Volta mode.
Rivera explained that Rush is built on some “very good learnings, very interesting learnings from Volta”.
He explained: “Our players were telling us that they didn’t want to leave their preferred favourite modes to go play Volta, because it was a separate mode. That’s why rush is now integrated into different modes.”
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He also touched on the fact that Rush has a new penalty mechanic, and that its pitch size is quite different to that of Volta. Plus, its core gameplay is closer to the honed 11-v-11 experience that you’re used to.
On a totally different note, we also spoke about the somewhat controversial addition of professional fouls to the game.
Offering some insight into the thinking behind this, Rivera told us, “professional fouls are an important part of football”.
He added, “It’s happening a lot […] there’s some very important football moments recently where a professional foul changed the direction of a match. So we thought, ‘Well, it’s part of football. We want it in the game.”
Does Rivera see this addition as a gateway to other footballing dark arts, like diving for instance?
He told us in no uncertain terms: “Not really. Diving, of course, we’ve heard it before. It hasn’t been a priority. It’s not something that we are actively looking to do. Any type of cheating, something like that, that’s not the goal.
“After all, professional [fouls], it’s a decision of stopping someone. People do it all the time, so it’s a bit different. So, yeah, no intentions to go in a different direction.”
We also spoke about the new FC IQ tactics system, and a whole lot more! Remember that you can see the full video at the top of this page, or on the Gaming YouTube channel.
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