How Online Gaming Has Changed in Recent Years

We remember playing FIFA back on the PS2, thinking that they looked like the most realistic games we’d ever played. We didn’t think gaming could get any better. We didn’t think FIFA could get any better. Now, we know that there are some of you out there saying, ‘Nope, the FC series doesn’t change at all’. Well, you’re wrong. FIFA/FC is better than it has ever been, and part of this is through the evolution of online gaming.

This page will discuss how online gaming has changed in recent years, and we might even speculate a little about what could happen in the future. All of this is done through the context of the FC series of games, but a lot of this information will apply to online gaming as a whole.

Loot Boxes

Love them or hate them, but the entire FC Ultimate Team business model has been built around loot boxes. You need to buy them if you want the best team (and you don’t want to spend hundreds of hours grinding for coins). Most other companies have now ditched loot boxes since some people find them predatory. However, there is no chance of EA is getting rid of them.

Still, loot boxes in FC games have become less like a slot machine that you would find somewhere like Online Slot UK, and a bit more predictable. For example, to conform with various pieces of legislation some countries have introduced, you can now see what would be in the next pack you open. This will let you make an informed decision about whether you should open it or not.

We think outside of this new feature of packs in FC, the pack feature won’t change that much. EA may need to refine things a little to conform to ever-changing laws, but probably not by much. You can pretty much guarantee that this will be the part of your online gaming experience that changes the least since it is so core to the revenue for the game.

Seasonal Rewards

Games like FC make money by always providing an incentive to play. The more people play a game, the more money it makes, and the more people get drawn in. Game publishers want to ensure that you’re only playing their games and nobody else’s games. So, most games now implement some sort of season pass or seasonal rewards. Rewards that you will miss out on if you stop playing for too long.

FC has gone down this route too. We are now starting to see more and more limited-time rewards in a bid to keep people playing FC and not even daring to touch other games out there. Love it or hate it, this is how companies make their money. After all, if you’re spending money on other games, you’re not spending money on their games.

Cross-Play

This is the best change to online gaming in recent years. Gone are the days when people needed to be playing on the same console as you. If you want to play FC with your friends, it doesn’t matter what console they’re on. As long as the console is part of the same generation (e.g. PS5 and Xbox Series) then you can play with them.

Crossplay is a staple feature of games nowadays, and it has helped to breathe life into games that otherwise would have struggled. Not that the FC series would struggle to find players. However, we do believe that crossplay in FC will keep older versions of the game populated for a short while after the next iteration comes out, meaning players won’t need to upgrade right away. At the very least, it means that you can play with your friends.

Constant Evolution of the Game

Back in the day, when a game was released, that was it. You might have received a couple of map packs or minor bug fixes to online play, but once it was released, developers barely touched it again. Things are different now. Games evolve long past their release date, again in the hope that people will keep playing and spending money.

Take FC, for instance. There are new modes, rewards, cards, etc. being introduced all the time. This is all part of the live service model that FC loves. Now, we know that it is to keep people playing the game and spending their money. However, we love the constant evolution of online games since it means that we don’t get bored of them. It seems that there is always something new to do, or something new to chase. This is why we spend our time playing FC more than any other online game.

Final Thoughts

Of course, online gaming has changed considerably beyond the points we mentioned here, for example, the promotion of online gaming through platforms like Twitch, although little of it has impacted the FC series as much as the points we’ve made here. We can’t wait to see what the future brings for online gaming, particularly from EA, if the changes that we’ve seen over the last few years are anything to go by, the future is bright!