Next Gen Consoles Deep Dive

Hi everyone!

With under two weeks to go until the launch of FIFA 21 on Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, we want to take some time to give you a special in-depth look at what you’ll be in store for when you first load the game up at release on December 4th.

From stunning player visuals to lightning fast load times, immersive haptic controls (with Playstation 5 DualSense™) to stadiums that come alive before, during and after the game, every matchday in FIFA 21 will feel even more real than ever before.

Welcome to next-gen FIFA 21.

PLAY NEXT LEVEL

The power of the next generation consoles delivers Lightning Fast Load Times that get you in the game quicker than ever before. In FIFA 21 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, we’re clocking in at under two seconds from the pre-game menu to a Kick-Off match. 

Sorry, pre-game practice arena fans!

Exclusive to PlayStation 5 players, Activity Cards lets you jump to your favourite mode directly from the PlayStation home screen too.

Whether you want to speed into some street football in VOLTA FOOTBALL, take on your next match in FIFA Ultimate Team, or play a title decider in Career Mode, PlayStation Activities combines with the Lightning Fast Load Times provided by the power of PlayStation 5 to get you into matches with speed.

With Shared Progression you’ll even be able to take your FUT Club and VOLTA FOOTBALL squad from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5 or Xbox One to Xbox Series X|S and back again, with cross-gen transfer markets and leaderboards in FUT 21, as well as all your FUT and VOLTA FOOTBALL content and progress*. 

FEEL NEXT LEVEL

One of the things we’re most excited for you to experience is the new PlayStation 5 DualSense™ Haptics, which allow us to create an even greater level of immersion thanks to the incredible haptic feedback and adaptive trigger technology it provides.

Whether you’re making a last-ditch block to save a certain goal, or smashing one in off the bar from outside the box, the DualSense controller responds to what happens on the pitch to let you feel the rhythm of the game in your hands. With more control over both the intensity and the location of the haptic feedback, you’ll now feel things like powerful left-footed shots with vibrations on the left side of the controller, and more intense haptic feedback from crunching head-on tackles than when players jostle for position at corners or free-kicks.

But another key part of football is stamina. As anyone who’s played or watched the sport will know, getting around the pitch gets much harder throughout the 90 minutes of a match. The adaptive triggers on the DualSense controller allow us to increase trigger resistance as stamina drains, meaning you’ll feel the effects of players’ tiredness as their fitness decreases throughout the game. This is only available on PlayStation 5, and we’re excited for you to feel the difference the DualSense makes to FIFA 21, pulling you into the intensity of a match in ways that weren’t possible before.

Additionally, our teams have worked hard on Push-Pull Physics, with an expanded player interaction system that brings our Real Player Motion Technology (RPMT) into the fight for the ball. Feel enhanced physicality in the battle for possession during open play and in set-piece situations as players jostle, push and pull, with more realism than ever before.

Some of the situations where RPMT will be most noticeable include: 

• When a physically strong attacker holds the ball
• When fighting for the ball in a race down the wings
• When battling for position to win an air ball
• On set-piece skirmishes, battling with opponents for the ball

The goal with this system is to improve the visual quality of two-player interactions and have them showing more awareness of opponents. This technology also improves the Smoother Encounters feature from FIFA 21 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, promoting even smoother gameplay.

SEE NEXT LEVEL

And of course, more power means we can take a huge leap forward in visual quality to make players and stadiums look even better.

While we’re all currently missing being able to go inside the stadium to watch our favourite teams and footballers, we know the incredible scenes and sounds that home and away fans create which make football what it is. In FIFA 21 we’re dialling up the spectacle of football on the biggest stage to reflect the incredible atmospheres that the crowd provides.

A new deferred lighting system called LiveLight Rendering means we can create ultra-realistic football environments in FIFA 21 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. You’ll see stadiums like Anfield, the Parc des Princes, the Santiago Bernabéu and the Etihad in incredible detail, with enhanced pitch surfaces, stadium materials and atmospheric effects that come together to create visually stunning recreations of the world’s most famous grounds. Combined with more realistic managers, substitutes, stewards and home and away fans (more on them to come), the stadium will feel more alive than ever before.

LiveLight Rendering also takes players to a new level of detail, accentuating the realism of faces and kits to result in our most detailed recreations of players like Kylian Mbappé and Trent Alexander-Arnold to date. Add that to new muscle flex technology that responds to players kicking the ball, and strand-based hair for some of the game’s biggest stars that moves as they do, and you’ll see the most human looking players in EA SPORTS FIFA history!

PreMatch Live adds a series of new pre-game cinematics to increase your matchday immersion. From following your team’s bus arriving at the stadium to seeing the fans streaming in through the turnstiles and player and manager-specific stories like a debut, players playing against a previous club, and the importance of a derby, rivalry or cup final, PreMatch Live sets the stage for the most authentic matchday experience we’ve ever been able to deliver.

On next generation consoles, we’re also now able to better reflect the incredible scenes that go alongside a last-gasp winner, UEFA Champions League winning goal, or relegation-saving equaliser - where that special connection between the fans and players is most evident and where stadiums go off in celebration. FIFA 21 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S includes new logic that understands that not all goals mean the same, with new contextual reactions from players, fans, managers, and subs unlocking Big Goal Moments. When you score a crucial goal, you’ll be able to see the absolute scenes provided by high-fidelity crowds that celebrate and interact together and in connection with the players, as well as other elements such as ball boys celebrating a home goal and stewards interacting with any fans that get a bit too close to the pitch!

A new gameplay camera gives you a fresh perspective on it too. The EA SPORTS GameCam was inspired by the look and feel of top-level football broadcasts, letting you see more of the pitch to help you plan your build-up play or block passing lanes, and giving you a view of home and away fans reacting to the match in real time. It makes a big difference to the game, and we’re excited for you to try it.

MOVE NEXT LEVEL

More power on the new consoles also means we can make players act and move more naturally too, with new animations and technology that improve their responsiveness and off-ball behaviour.

Responsive Multi-Touch Animations take player movement to the next level of realism. This new gameplay technology enhances the visual quality and responsiveness of linked animations on the ball, enabling you to experience fluid and realistic player movement. You’ll notice players taking more contextual touches that better reflect how they move on the pitch in real life, with over 700 new animation combinations that improve responsiveness and enable you to move and control the ball better than ever before.

An expanded player interaction system also brings more realism to the battle for the ball. Whether they’re going shoulder-to-shoulder in midfield or jostling in the box ahead of a set piece, you’ll see more natural interactions and higher visual quality in every part of the pitch when players fight for the ball.

We’re also able to make players act even more realistically than in any previous EA SPORTS FIFA title with Off-Ball Humanization. You’ll see players displaying more human behaviour like cleaning sweat from their face after a run, shouting for a pass, calling for a throw-in, and regaining their breath after a sprint in the 89th minute. You’ll even notice that context and circumstance affects players’ behaviours in the pitch, with players reacting more to their teammates and opponents during a derby, for example, and a favorable or unfavorable score impacting those off-ball animations as well. Hundreds of new gestures and animations come together to create this more spontaneous and authentic behaviour that make players feel truly alive in FIFA 21 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Some of the contexts and circumstances that can affect Off-Ball Humanization include the match importance (rivalries, finals, big matches), score, team and teammate performance, captaincy, time of the match, fatigue and stamina, and how much time a teammate is wasting.

And some of the behaviours that can be observed include pass and marking suggestions, calling for different kinds of passes, spitting, blowing nose, scratching, wiping sweat, calling for throw-ins, clapping intentions and plays, asking teammates to hurry up, and more!

DUAL ENTITLEMENT

Last but not least, we’re excited to be offering a Dual Entitlement with FIFA 21 on next-gen consoles, meaning you can upgrade your copy from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5 and from Xbox One to Xbox Series X|S for free* at any time from December 4th until the launch of FIFA 22!

From that jump in visual quality to getting you to matches faster and more besides, we’re so excited about the new features we’re able to include on the next generation consoles and hope you’ve enjoyed that look into how FIFA 21 gets you closer to football than ever before.

We can’t wait for you to Feel Next Level when FIFA 21 launches December 4th on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S!

 The EA SPORTS FIFA team

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Please Note: This article is describing in general terms what the Dev Teams are working on. We are constantly looking to improve the FIFA experience for everyone, so this article may become outdated as we make adjustments to keep our game fun for everyone.

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*Conditions apply: ea.com/dual-entitlement