FIFA 22 | Pitch Notes - Title Update #1

Oct 06, 2021

Hey everybody, my name is Goran, I’m a Producer on the Player First Operations team, part of FIFA Live, and I’ve been playing football games for about 25 years now.

But enough about me, let’s talk about FIFA 22’s first Title Update (TU #1). This article will highlight a couple of the changes we’ve introduced in TU #1, as well as provide a look at our intent to add an additional layer of polish to FIFA 22 with this TU.

So let’s jump right in!

Goalkeepers And Top Corner Shots

TU #1 introduces the following change to goalkeepers:

“Reduced the effectiveness of goalkeepers when diving for top corner shots taken from inside of the penalty box.

    - This change specifically applies to shots taken within 37 feet/11.27 meters of the goalkeeper.”

In my opinion, one of the best feelings in football is seeing that perfectly placed top corner shot beat a keeper who’s desperately doing everything they can to get at least a fingertip to the ball. The net bulges. The crowd roars. It’s just a great feeling, you know?

With this goalkeeper change, our intent is to ensure that these kinds of feelings and moments can be replicated in FIFA 22 at a healthy frequency. We’ve seen that goalkeepers can sometimes be a little too adept at saving top corner shots from in close, so we’ve reduced their effectiveness trying to save them in order to promote more diversity in goalscoring. As covered in the Title Update notes, this will apply to shots within 37 feet/11.27 meters of the keeper, taken from inside of the penalty box.

Here’s how goalkeepers could have reacted before TU #1.

The goalkeeper made an amazing save in the previous example, and that’s great, but that kind of save isn’t something that happens too often on the real life pitch and so we don’t want to see that happening too often in game.

Here’s how goalkeepers are more likely to react after TU #1.

As you can see, the goalkeeper still has a chance of making a great save in this example, but the high quality shot can lead to a goal as well. It’s important to note that this change only impacts goalkeepers themselves, finishing itself has not been changed in this TU.

As with any and all gameplay changes, we’ll monitor feedback and look into making further adjustments if needed. In simple terms, we expect more goals from these types of shots, but that doesn’t mean that keepers won’t still be able to pull off spectacular saves from time to time.

Goalkeepers And High Finesse Shots

TU #1 introduces the following change:

“Added goalkeeper animations that could occur when a keeper is attempting to save a high finesse shot. 

    - This change is intended to provide more authentic looking goalkeeper reactions and very slightly increases the effectiveness of goalkeepers saving this type of shot.”

We’ve seen that goalkeepers have sometimes struggled against finesse shots that send the ball high into the air. As a result, goalkeepers reacted to this type of shot in a less football authentic fashion.

What this change does is arm goalkeepers with new animations that can be used when the goalkeeper is determining how to react to a high finesse shot. Keepers will now be able to react in ways that are closer to real life football when they see a high finesse shot coming at them.

While these animations can have a small impact on the keepers’ abilities to save these types of shots, they are not meant to generally improve shot stopping. 

We’ll continue to monitor feedback around goalkeepers and finesse shots over the coming days, weeks, and months. At this stage of the game, we are actively collecting as much data and feedback around these and all other gameplay systems in order to better determine what changes future Title Updates could bring to the table.

On that note, if you’ve got feedback or want to show us a bug you’ve experienced, be sure to do so over on Answers HQ. While we certainly look for feedback in places like Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit, reporting bugs or giving feedback on Answers HQ ensures that the corresponding game teams will see it as quickly as possible.

Division Rivals Progress UI

TU #1 updates the Division Rivals Progress UI that you can see when entering the mode

“Updated Division Rivals Progress tile UI to improve readability and clarity.”

We’ve seen some feedback from players that the Division Rivals Progress window could have been tricky to follow at a glance, so we’ve rearranged the information in a more compact way. Here’s how the screen looks after TU #1.

This screenshot is for illustrative purposes only. The information in the above screenshot does not represent current Reward and Milestone values in FIFA 22.

As you can see above, the most relevant Reward information is now presented with simple checkboxes that fill when requirements are met, along with the competition timer.

Other Improvements

In general, TU #1 is intended to provide an additional layer of polish across all areas of FIFA 22. It addresses everything from UI inconsistencies to players sometimes taking unintentionally heavy touches during matches. For the full TU notes, definitely head over to our forums and check them out.

And don’t forget to keep an eye on the EA SPORTS FIFA Tracker. The EASF Tracker is a great space for keeping up with some of the items that we’re currently working on. It’s totally the type of thing I would’ve been constantly checking if it existed long before I was a producer! Seriously, I love the Tracker, and not just because I’m one of the people that maintains it, I swear.

Thanks for checking out this Pitch Notes, see you next time.

- Goran from the PFO 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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