5 Questions with EA SPORTS FC’s Head of Engineering

Building on an incredible 30-year foundation, we're redefining football with our EA SPORTS FC™ franchise – a genre-leading ecosystem of interactive experiences, bringing a global community of football fans closer to The World's Game. And with the launch of EA SPORTS FC 25 on September 27, 2024 we invited players into the most social and authentic experience we’ve ever created. Featuring over 19,000 athletes, 700+ teams, 120+ stadiums, and 30+ leagues, our players can now experience an all-new way to play with 5v5 Rush, overhauled tactical foundations with FC IQ, updates and innovations across Career mode, the debut of EA SPORTS™ HIGHLIGHTER (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC only) for creating personalized, highly shareable content…and so much more! 

To share more insight into this incredible franchise, and go behind the scenes on the making of the latest release, we caught up with Jinsong Li, Head of Engineering for EA SPORTS FC to ask him 5 questions about his role, and the role of his team on this title. 

1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey to EA SPORTS FC?

Sure! My name is Jinsong Li, and I’m the Head of Engineering for EA SPORTS FC. I’ve been with Electronic Arts (EA) / EA SPORTS for around 25 years, where I've had the privilege of working on not just EA SPORTS FC, but also on our NBA, NHL, and baseball titles during different stages of my career. Throughout this journey, I’ve been fortunate to dive into several technical domains— gameplay, AI, and rendering — each of which has given me a unique perspective on building immersive sports games. These experiences have shaped my approach to leading the engineering team, as we continue to push the boundaries of innovation for EA SPORTS FC.

Jinsong Li delivering a keynote speech to open The University of British Columbia hackathon event

2. What role does the engineering team play in the making of EA SPORTS FC titles?

The engineering team plays a crucial role in bringing EA SPORTS FC to life. Our job is to take the creative vision from designers and artists and make it a reality, while also working within the technical capabilities of the hardware. We act as a bridge between the creative and technical worlds, designing and implementing everything from rendering to gameplay systems to progression mechanics. It's not just about solving today's challenges, but also designing systems with future extensibility in mind. While other teams here focus on the 'what' and 'when,' it's the engineers who are responsible for figuring out the 'how'—how to make the game run smoothly, look stunning, and feel immersive for players.

Jinsong with some of the FC team at the EA Shanghai studio during the EA SPORTS FC Mobile anniversary celebrations

3. What are the key features/highlights your team worked on in EA SPORTS FC 25?

One of the standout features we developed for EA SPORTS FC 25 is called Rush. It’s an innovative and engaging 5v5 experience which we’ve integrated across Ultimate Team™, Clubs and Kick-Off to offer a fresh, fast-paced and social way for our global community of FC fans to play. Rush brings a new dimension, where players can team up with up to 3 friends, each controlling a player, and compete in 5v5 matches for rewards. With the smaller squads, we wanted to create a more social and intimate gameplay experience and give players more time on the ball. We also introduced custom communication tools designed to keep the action close and engaging.

4. What's the most rewarding element of your role/working at EA SPORTS?

For me personally, the most rewarding part of working on EA SPORTS FC is knowing that the code I write is being used by millions of players around the world. When I interviewed for the team, I remember telling my interviewer that my dream was to have something I built to be enjoyed on a massive scale, and that dream has definitely come true with the success of the FC franchise. It's incredibly fulfilling on a personal level to see my work contributing to something that brings joy to so many people. 

More broadly, working at EA SPORTS provides numerous opportunities for career growth. Being part of a collaborative and innovative environment, we get to work with some of the brightest minds in the industry. This atmosphere encourages continuous learning and development, as well as tackling new and exciting challenges, helping everyone across our global studios to expand their skills and advance their careers.

EA Vancouver - Jinsong’s base and one of the many global studios from where EA SPORTS games are developed

5 .Do you have to be a ‘coder’ to get into the gaming industry?

One of the common misconceptions is that tech is only for coders. While it’s true that tech companies hire a lot of programmers, not every role involves writing or debugging code. For example, on my team, we have UI designers who primarily use tools like Figma or PhotoShop to create quick prototypes, and they rarely, if ever, need to write code. Another example is data scientists. Their job isn’t to code all day but to design processes that find patterns in data and provide insights that guide business or development decisions. Then there are many more important roles across our teams that are crucial to the overall delivery of our games, such as project management, production, marketing etc. What all these roles have in common, though, is the need for strong logical thinking skills. While coding is a great way to develop that skill, it’s not the only path—and logical thinking itself is universally important across tech and gaming.

Learn more about growing your career in engineering, tech and gaming at EA SPORTS!