The Pitch Notes
EA SPORTS FC™ 24 | Pitch Notes - Ultimate Team Launch Update
Hello, I’m Gordon Farquhar, a Lead Game Product Manager for EA SPORTS FC. With launch around the corner I wanted to run you through some key changes we’re making in Ultimate Team™ 24. The bulk of what I’ll be talking about today is related to changes to Content & Modes, if you want to know more about new features coming this year I recommend jumping into the Ultimate Team Pitch Notes. We’ll be covering everything from Early Access to Pre-season Rewards, so let's jump right in:
Early Access & Nike Mad Ready Campaign
As is tradition in these Ultimate Team Launch Update Pitch Notes, let’s kick off with the #1 question you want answered: When can I start Ultimate Team 24?
- Companion & Web App Launch: We know that getting ready for the Season ahead is a crucial part of Ultimate Team launch. Starting from 20 September you’ll be able to log into the Web App and from 21 September you'll be able download a refreshed version of the Companion App. Players logging in on PC & console before 1 November 2023 will see your new FC Founder Status rewards, replacing Returning User Rewards. More details on this one below.
- Early Access Launch: If you’ve pre-ordered the Ultimate Edition of EA SPORTS FC™ 24, you’ll be able to jump into Ultimate Team 24, from midnight (local time) on September 22 on Sony and Microsoft Consoles, and from 5 AM BST on September 22 on PC. EA Play members will be able to play up to 10 hours via the trial, and Ultimate Edition owners & EA Play Pro (on PC) members will get unlimited access to EA SPORTS FC™ 24.
- Worldwide launch: If you’ve purchased the Standard Edition you’ll be able to jump in from 29 September.
Ahead of UEFA Road to the Knockouts and launch on 29 September, for the first time ever in Ultimate Team, we’ll introduce a special pre-launch Campaign aimed at helping you get Mad Ready for the Season ahead.
Unlike traditional post-launch Ultimate Team Campaigns, Nike Mad Ready is focussed on completing unique Objectives to get special rewards by using Mad Ready Players. The Objectives and rewards have been tailor-made to help you get in the best shape for the upcoming year ahead.
Five Nike Mad Ready Players will receive cosmetically upgraded versions with the same Attributes as their base versions. Mad Ready Players will be available in the Ultimate Team pool of pack items from 22 September, 6pm BST until 29 September 5:59 BST. A loan version of one of the Player Items is available as part of your pre-order content, and in addition to Objective rewards.
Ultimate Team Seasons
Another big change you’ll see when you first login to EA SPORTS FC™ 24 is that Seasons play a central role within Ultimate Team and how you unlock rewards to customise your squad. Our new Seasons timeline will introduce more Seasons across the year that differ in length, to better connect Season Progress with Ultimate Team Campaigns, starting with “Welcome to the Club”.
As we entered Ultimate Team 23, we felt like Seasons had much more potential. Throughout the year we made updates to better understand what you, the players, and this led to 3 focus areas:
- Rewards that felt relevant to what was happening within Ultimate Team at the time, with key choices that impact the way you build your squad.
- A range of ways to unlock progress for playing Ultimate Team your way, in your mode.
- Clear understanding of what you can do each week and also what's to come in Ultimate Team, for new & existing players.
In the past our Campaign Swaps and ICON Swaps have been incredibly popular within Ultimate Team, ticking a number of these motivations. However for some newer players, understanding how to earn and redeem tokens was complex, and it could even cause challenges for established players if you forgot to redeem your rewards.
We believe combining Swaps rewards into Season Progress allows players to better understand and see their progress each season as you work towards building your dream team.
Mode & Rewards Changes
In EA SPORTS FC™ 24, we’ll be updating rewards in a number of modes including, Squad Battles, Rivals & Champions. Each mode change is looking to solve a unique challenge but we wanted to tackle the changes together to ensure that playing in all three modes felt rewarding and balanced.
Seasonal XP in Mode Rewards:
As mentioned above, Seasons will play a central role in Ultimate Team 24. As part of that shift, you’ll notice that Squad Battles, Rivals, and Champions modes now feature weekly Seasonal XP rewards. This will help you make more progress on the Seasonal Ladder by playing in your mode.
Champions:
In Champions we’ll update rewards throughout the year to make sure that they feel meaningful, whether you are playing in October, February, or June. The most notable change you’ll see right away at launch is that Ultimate Team Champions Player Items (sometimes referred to as Red Picks) will be replaced by rewards of equivalent value in-game. Before jumping into more details about why we’re making these changes, this doesn’t mean that Ultimate Team Champions Players will be gone forever. Instead, we’ll be focusing on how and when they show up in Ultimate Team throughout the year.
By making these changes to Ultimate Team Champions rewards, we want to make rewards more relevant to your Ultimate Team journey throughout the year.
The original aim of Champions Players was to allow players to showcase their on-pitch ability, through special versions of Players in their squad. As we look at in-game usage, it’s clear that Ultimate Team Champions Players' match usage drops the deeper into the Live Service we go, with Champions Players being used more and more in Squad Building Challenges (SBCs).
Last year, as the vast majority of leagues paused in November, we updated our Champions rewards in Season 2 which allowed players:
- Greater ability to receive Campaign content as part of their Champions rewards
- An OVR minimum guarantee for player rewards that enabled greater options when completing SBCs
By removing Champions Players from the default rewards lineup, we’ll be able to focus on delivering more frequent changes to Champions rewards throughout the year, helping to keep them as a key avenue of growing your squad all season long.
In addition, we’ll be updating Champions rewards for Rank 2 and above. A focus for us heading into EA SPORTS FC™ 24 is to ensure we better balance difficulty and rewards for elite play, and these changes look to reward the best of the best each and every week.
Rivals:
Our focus on rewarding elite play is driving rewards changes in Rivals too, where we’ll be updating rewards across the mode with extra attention on making Division 2 and above more rewarding. With this change we want to make sure that there’s a better incentive to play in a higher division each week.
Similar to Champions, the Champions Players that could be earned in the Elite Division will be swapped for rewards of equivalent value at launch.
Squad Battles:
As announced back in the Ultimate Team Deep Dive Pitch Notes, we’re reducing Squad Battles halves to 4 minutes from 6 minutes. In addition we’re reducing the total number of matches that count towards your weekly rank from 40 to 32.
Our aim with these changes is to increase the amount of time you actively spend playing the game versus playing out the clock in some matches, as well as improving the rewards balance between playing offline & online.
Evolutions
Evolutions is a brand new system within Ultimate Team this year that allows you to upgrade Players from your club. Throughout each Season in Ultimate Team, we’ll deliver new Evolutions. As football and Ultimate Team fans, we’re excited about the squad building options that Evolutions will enable no matter who you support around the world and throughout the football pyramid.
We know there’s lots of questions on how Evolutions will work in-game—today we’ll run you through how we’re approaching the feature as well as introduce the first Evolutions you’ll be able to see in-game.
In addition to the above Evolutions, we’ll be introducing new Evolutions each week within the “Welcome to Club” Season. A total of 12 Evolutions will be available across the first Season, including a Tutorial Evolution & FC Founders Evolution.
Since the announcement of Evolutions there’s been a lot of excitement and interest in what we have planned. We think the variety and potential that Evolutions will introduce will have a significant impact on Ultimate Team far beyond launch. As a Palace and Scotland fan, I already know that my squad will look very different year on year. Being such a significant feature, we want to work with our community to understand what’s working, what’s not working, and what you’d love to see going forward. Similar to the introduction of SBCs, what Evolutions looks like at this time next year could be quite different as we see and hear what is working.
Here’s how we plan to start out.
Upgrade Types
Upgrades you can make to your Players will largely fall into one or more of the following categories:
- Gameplay: These Evolutions will provide updates to a range of in-game stats, from flat OVR upgrades to Evolutions that target upgrading in-game Attributes such as Stamina.
- Utility: These Evolutions will give you more flexibility that will help maximise squad building options by adding alternate positions, adjusting work rates, and more throughout the year.
- Cosmetic: These Evolutions will be focussed on upgrading the visual look of your Player Items.
Campaigns & Evolutions
We’re excited to see how Evolutions and Campaigns combine throughout the year to create different types of Players that we traditionally might not see in Ultimate Team. As long as Campaign Players meet Evolution requirements, you’ll be able to upgrade Campaign versions of Players in the same way you can upgrade their base versions. Throughout the year you might also see challenges that require exact player rarity like Team of the Week.
In select Campaigns we’ll introduce bespoke Evolutions tailored to that Campaign. Centurions will be one of the early Campaigns in Ultimate Team 24 that will leverage Evolutions.
Each year we see a number of you sharing the achievements of your club legend in Ultimate Team, as you rush to key milestones. However, their status within your club wasn’t mirrored in the way they appear in your Squad Screen. Evolutions allows us to evolve what being a Centurion means within Ultimate Team.
Where can you complete Evolutions?
We’re designing the majority of Evolutions to be played in your preferred mode within Ultimate Team. However, some challenges might require you to play in a specific mode. We want to ensure the Evolutions strike the right balance between being challenging and rewarding so that the Evolutions you choose are personal & meaningful to you and your Ultimate Team.
Authentic Content Overhaul
For players who read last year’s Live Content Deep Dive Pitch Notes, there should be a number of key themes that feel familiar in this section.
How we include authentic football content that captures the real world of football has been an area we’ve been looking to improve over the past couple of years. As we enter the EA SPORTS FC era for Ultimate Team, it felt like a natural moment to update the way in which we feature authentic content in-game as we look to maximise brand new features including Evolutions, PlayStyles & the addition of the top 5 women’s leagues.
Team of the Week
Team of the Week is one of oldest, and most loved Campaigns in Ultimate Team, celebrating standout performances from the world of football each week. This year, we’re continuing our focus on how Team of the Week will appear in-game, not just at launch but all season long. We’re building on last year’s approach with multiple planned updates throughout the year aimed at driving appeal & in-game usage throughout the football season.
There’s 3 key updates we wanted to share today, with more to come throughout Ultimate Team 24:
- Lower rated OVR Players will receive larger upgrades ensuring that all TOTW Players will be at least 80+ OVR from launch, building on our approach from last year.
- TOTW Players across all OVR ranges may receive relatively larger upgrades in key stats such as Pace or Dribbling to make sure they feel more balanced with other content released in a similar window.
- Similar to last year, Featured TOTW items will be eligible for relatively larger upgrades in addition to Weak Foot & Skill Moves upgrades. A new addition for this year is that these Weak Foot & Skill Moves upgrades will now carry through to the player’s next TOTW version. Keep an eye out for future announcements around Featured TOTW in upcoming Seasons including planned usage of PlayStyles to inject a sense of player personality into Featured TOTW Players.
ICONs
As mentioned in the Ultimate Team Pitch Notes, we’ll be changing the way that ICONs will appear in Ultimate Team this year. Similar to Heroes & active Players, ICONs will have 1 single base version, with Campaign versions of ICONs being released throughout EA SPORTS FC™ 24. As a result you can expect to see some changes in select ICON Attributes.
For some time we've been exploring how we balance authentically representing the greatest Players of all time at the peak of their powers, as well as ensuring they maintain their elite status throughout the year in Ultimate Team. In recent years we’ve made a number of changes aimed at ensuring ICONs continue to feel special deep into the season, leading us to the introduction of Campaign ICONs last year.
We’ve been blown away by the reception of campaign ICONs, with player feedback asking to introduce them into more Ultimate Team Campaigns. It’s important to us that Campaign versions of ICONs still feel special, so whilst they won’t be in every Campaign, you can expect to see ICONs (& Heroes) appear in more Campaigns throughout Ultimate Team 24. Our new single base era approach to ICONs creates more space for more versions of Campaign ICONs whilst also making sure that each version feels meaningfully different. It also enables ICONs to feel in balance with other Ultimate Team content available in-game at the same time.
We always look to build content for every type of football fan, so similar to Senior & Junior Trophy Titans versions of ICONs, you can expect to see Campaign versions of ICONs rated both above and below their base version.
In EA SPORTS FC™ 24 we’re excited to collaborate with Marvel Entertainment to deliver one of a kind UEFA Champions League and UEFA Women’s Champions League items, each with bespoke illustrated action shots.
For those who pre-ordered the EA SPORTS FC™ 24 Ultimate Edition before 22 August, you’ll receive your UEFA Hero Pack from 27 November, a full two weeks before they will be available in the pack player pool of items. Your pre-order pack will contain 1 of the 19 new Heroes added in Ultimate Team 24, with a UEFA Champions League or a UEFA Women’s Champions League version.
Women’s Football in Ultimate Team
In EA SPORTS FC™ 24, for the first time ever in Ultimate Team, you’ll have the ability to assemble your dream squad using Players from both men’s and women’s football. By adding the Barclays Women’s Super League (England), D1 Arkema (France), Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga (Germany), Liga F (Spain) & National Women’s Soccer League (United States), more football fans will be able to represent their Ultimate Team with the Players they know and love.
Whilst previous Pitch Notes have explained what the addition means for base Players and their ratings, today we’re going to jump into how we’ll be bringing women’s football to life through content in EA SPORTS FC™ 24.
Ultimate Team Moments, ICONs & Heroes
In addition to current superstars of the top 5 leagues within women’s football, we’re also introducing 5 ICONs & 3 Heroes to Ultimate Team, who have shaped women’s football as we know it today. Through a collection of Ultimate Team Moments that we’ll release throughout the year, we’ll look to celebrate each of these pioneers’ careers in football by reliving key moments on their way to greatness.
Campaigns
Campaigns are a massive part of what makes Ultimate Team special, and we’ll regularly include women’s footballers in these key releases. At a similar scale to non top 5 men’s leagues, women’s Players will be made available as part of Campaign squads, available in the pack player pool of items, as Objectives, or as SBC rewards.
Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming announcements for the UEFA Road to the Knockout Campaign Squad.
Player Programs
Player Programs are what we call regular recurring content that falls outside of our Campaign content.
As you enter Ultimate Team for the first time, you’ll see in our first season “Welcome to the Club” focussed on enabling starter squads from football around the world. Throughout Season 1, we’ll be releasing Squad Foundations from a range of global leagues including Eredivisie, Liga F, NWSL, and MLS. In addition to Squad Foundations Players being available through Objectives & SBCs, you’ll be able to choose between a range of Squad Foundations Players in your Season Progress.
We’ll continue to highlight key match-ups from world football with Showdowns, where two Players go head-to-head in an upcoming match to compete for a +2 OVR increase to their Item. This year, with the addition of women’s football, we’ll have more leagues and crunch matches to celebrate and highlight.
Team of the Week will continue to celebrate a selection of the best performances in world football each week, including performances from the top 5 women’s leagues.
Last year we introduced Dynamics Duos to help facilitate squad building in the new chemistry system, by releasing two special Players from the same club. With the way that men’s and women’s club chemistry works this year, we’ll expand Dynamic Duos to potentially include men’s and women’s Players from the same club. These unique combinations will help hybrid squad building across men’s and women’s football.
And of course we’ll continue to celebrate player’s careers with Player Moments, Flashbacks & End of an Era versions of Players that highlight stand out moments, prolonged greatness, or their entire career.
Campaigns
Campaigns are a massive part of what makes Ultimate Team special, and we’ll regularly include women’s footballers in these key releases. At a similar scale to non top 5 men’s leagues, women’s Players will be made available as part of Campaign squads, available in the pack player pool of items, as Objectives, or as SBC rewards.
Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming announcements for the UEFA Road to the Knockout Campaign Squad.
Changes to Nintendo Switch™
With the Nintendo Switch version of EA SPORTS FC™ 24 moving to Frostbite, we’ll be introducing more modes than ever to the game, including within Ultimate Team. In EA SPORTS FC™ 24, for the first time Nintendo Switch players will be able to experience major modes like Champions, Rivals & Squad Battles, plus Evolutions & Objectives that reward you for playing matches.
Thanks to these changes, we’re excited to confirm we’ll be bringing all Seasons & Campaigns to EA SPORTS FC™ 24 on Switch. For existing Switch players, this means not only more Campaigns, but more content within those Campaigns than you may have previously seen in Ultimate Team.
Switch players will continue to have their own separate transfer market, and as a reminder:
- Nintendo Switch Transfer Market: Nintendo Switch
- PC Transfer Market: EA Play App, Steam & Epic
- Shared Console Transfer Market: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Esports
As we head into the FC Pro Live esport events in Ultimate Team 24, we are making improvements that simplify the way that upcoming events and viewership rewards appear in-game.
In EA SPORTS FC™ 24, viewership rewards will be available via Objectives instead of the Swaps section of the SBC menu. This change makes it easier for you to see upcoming events, easier for you to see the rewards associated with each event and easier to get rewarded for watching FC Pro Live events on Twitch or YouTube.
You’ll also be rewarded for the amount of time you spend watching each event, with Objectives related to how much of the event you watch. You’ll be able to claim yours via the Objectives hub the next time you enter Ultimate Team after watching an event, rather than needing to submit a token into an SBC.
FC Founder Status
At the start of EA SPORTS FC™ 24, we’ll be introducing Founder Status, a distinction for the players who help us kick off this new era for The World’s Game. Founder Status is a one-time opportunity and will only be available at the beginning of EA SPORTS FC™ 24. But once you’re a Founder, you’ll always be a Founder, with Founder Status sticking with your account into the future potentially earning you rewards throughout EA SPORTS FC™ 24 and beyond.
To earn Founder Status, simply log in to EA SPORTS FC™ 24 with your EA Account and connect to the EA Servers before November 1 2023.
As a Founder, you’ll be recognized from the moment you load up EA SPORTS FC 24, met each time with a custom load-in animation commemorating your Founder Status. That recognition carries into the menus with a personal Founder Badge that will stay with your account throughout EA SPORTS FC 24 and into the future.
In addition to these permanent symbols celebrating your Founder Status, Founders will also enjoy the following in-game rewards to kick-off your Ultimate Team™ campaign in EA SPORTS FC 24.
- Founder Badges
- Founder Evolution
- Founder Kits and Stadium Vanity
- Founder XP Objectives
Plus, look forward to additional rewards as the EA SPORTS FC franchise continues.
To learn more about these specific Founder Rewards, visit our Founder Status page here.
EA Play Member Benefits
In EA SPORTS FC™ 24, we’ll be changing the rewards that EA Play* Members will receive each month. This year’s Member Benefits at and beyond launch include:
- 1 Ultimate Team Draft Token each month
- 10 hour EA Play Early Access trial (from October 22)
- 10% member discount on FC Points
- VOLTA Coins and Apparel Items every season in VOLTA FOOTBALL™ and Clubs
Pre-Season Rewards
Eligible players who have earned Pre-Season rewards in past titles will be granted their rewards by October 12. Pre-season rewards must be redeemed by logging in to Ultimate Team 24 by November 12 2023.
That’s a sneak peak at what we have in store for the year ahead, stay tuned for more detailed Campaign announcements as we head towards launch. On the EA SPORTS Football team we’ve all grown up playing EA SPORTS football games and are excited to take this step into the new EA SPORTS FC era both as fans and team members. On behalf of the wider FC Live team, who make all of the above work possible, I wanted to thank you all for your passion and energy as we build the biggest community of football fans together.
See you on the pitch,
Gordon
*Conditions, limitations and exclusions apply. See tos.ea.com/legalapp/eaplay/US/en/PC/ for details.
EA SPORTS FC™ 24 is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch
Stay in the conversation on all things EA SPORTS FC™ by following us on our official X, Instagram, and YouTube, our Dev X channel @EASFCDIRECT, on the EA SPORTS FC™ Tracker and participating in the official EA SPORTS FC™ Forums.
