Will EAFC Face a 2K Challenge?

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Moiz Banoori

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EA has developed FIFA games for over twenty years. This ended last year when the deal between EA and FIFA broke out. This caused EA to create a football game series of its own, EAFC. The broken agreement marks FIFA 23 as the last FIFA game developed by EA.

We don’t know if this will be the case forever. However, according to the reports, EA and FIFA may not renew their deal anytime soon due to a new player in the game. That new player may be none other than 2K, a company that may not be as famous/infamous as EA but has undoubtedly left its mark on sports games.

2K’s History With Sports Games

Judging 2K by their overall history, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the company has had ups and downs. 2K is well known for making NBA and WWE games in the sports genre. But are they fit to make a football/soccer game, especially that of FIFA’s caliber?

NBA 2K

Looking at the NBA 2K games, the series has been around for over a decade. But it didn’t help 2K when they started going wrong with the franchise, as the recent NBA games kept worsening. The latest NBA game, i.e., NBA 2K24, is considered one of the worst NBA games due to glitches, wrong career mode, and unplayable online mode.

It’s hard to say that this is the same development company that made some great classics like NBA 2K16, which many consider to be the best NBA game. Compared to 2K24, 2K did a great job with basic mechanics, like collisions, foot planting, and game modes.

WWE 2K

Despite the ongoing downfall of the NBA 2K series, we can’t conclude that 2K never learns from its mistakes. The recently released WWE game is the perfect example.

NBA 2K isn’t the only 2K franchise that fans have heavily criticized; the WWE 2K series has also seen bad days. It wasn’t too long that 2K had to revamp the entire game engine for the WWE 2K games due to the disaster of a wrestling game known as WWE 2K20. That was the worst time for wrestling video game lovers.

The game had every issue that could ever occur in a video game. It was full of bugs and glitches, so full that you couldn’t even complete a match because your character was either stuck under the ring or paralyzed.

Sometimes, locating your character on the screen is problematic because they become invisible and disappear. To make things worse, the game occasionally crashes in the middle of a match, causing you to lose all your progress.

It was the lowest 2K had ever been, as fans asked for a refund for the game. Although updates fixed many of the glitches, the game was still nowhere near what fans were expecting it to be. After the success of WWE 2K19, everyone had high hopes for 2K20. But the disaster 2K produced made the fans believe they would never get a good wrestling game from 2K.

The heavy criticism forced 2K to skip a year and focus on what went wrong with their last game. That resulted in success as they got enough time to develop the 2K22 on a new engine with minimal bugs and glitches. They also introduced a new gameplay style in the series, which fans loved.

I’m so glad to see #WWE2K22 getting the reviews it deserves. It’s really shows the time and effort that was spent on making the core gameplay so much more fun and engaging to play. Some modes are unchanged and others are lacking the depth we would like but boy…

— Defract (@Defract) March 10, 2022

This success ultimately led to 2K24, which is considered one of the best wrestling games ever made.

With the failure of WWE 2K20, everyone thought that this series was done. But 2K’s comeback proved them wrong. 2K listened to the fans, reconsidered their wrongs, and brought the series back to life.

Can 2K Overcome EAFC?

If 2K develops a FIFA game, it will either top or flop; there’s no in-between. The reason I say that is because FIFA is a well-known game all around the world. And despite no considerable changes to the annually released games, we can’t ignore that FIFA games have been more stable than 2K games.

The basic animations, gameplay, and graphics have been close to top-notch in most of the games, which will get fans’ expectations high for the next FIFA game. That means if 2K fails to provide a decent football game, their new project will unlikely succeed.

It’s risky to bet on 2K because they aren’t as good as EA regarding basics in video games that make them look polished, like transitions between animations. This flaw hasn’t been a big deal in 2K’s other projects. However, fans of the FIFA games may not take it generously.

But if 2K succeeds in making a play-worthy football game, they may tackle EAFC. That’s because EAFC 24, the first and latest non-FIFA football game by EA, hasn’t received good reviews.

Sudden changes in the pace of the AI players, unrealistic goal saves, an unjust fouling system, tons of microtransactions, and many other small things make the game unenjoyable. This is a great leverage point for 2K to bring the desperate fans to their side.

Moreover, if the fan service by 2K remains the same for football fans as it has for wrestling fans, they may stick to the franchise for a long time.

In short, if FIFA 2K25 rights the wrongs of EAFC 24 while being close to the caliber of the classic FIFA games, they can easily take the win. It will be a challenging task, but with some dedication, 2K can tackle EAFC.

Moiz Banoori

Moiz Banoori, with a decade of experience in gaming and tech journalism and a degree in journalism, is a notable figure in the industry. He has contributed to various esteemed platforms, showcasing his expertise in both reporting and opinion writing.