dontellmama
Conference
- 20 February 2023
In fact, he is as Lead of Match Experience, which encompasses gameplay, audio and graphics.

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In fact, he is as Lead of Match Experience, which encompasses gameplay, audio and graphics.
Very much off-topic, but I do think this impacts FC in general:
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Think of where the gameplay could be right now if that was the focus, given the technology that's available - yet, if anything, it's been dumbed down for the past (minimum) six years. It's heartbreaking.
I really hope this Authentic Mode team can take huge steps forward and not have to take baby steps like the Competitive Mode team have to (due to the financial risk of FUT players suddenly not liking it).
My time with the FC26 beta finished positively* - while fundamental issues will stop me from buying the game**, there are true positives. Midfielders tracking back and defenders (occasionally) working together actually force you into build-up play, for example - and the goalkeepers feel much more human. So I'm hopeful in this new direction.Good interviews
https://xbox-mag.net/2025/08/25/jou...t-de-rencontrer-deux-des-developpeurs-du-jeu/
https://www.kicker.de/wir-muessen-m...eher-reparatur-als-revolution-1139939/artikel
Bogdan is the developer of authentic gameplay.
If you didn't understand what Chris was saying in his first point, watch this!My time with the FC26 beta finished positively* - while fundamental issues will stop me from buying the game**, there are true positives. Midfielders tracking back and defenders (occasionally) working together actually force you into build-up play, for example - and the goalkeepers feel much more human. So I'm hopeful in this new direction.
...until I read, in your articles:
- "Sam Rivera, gameplay lead for FC26" - for obvious reasons (click here).
- "Entire months were invested to make the results of a tackle more reliable" - key word being "reliable", i.e. magnetic boots and a magic ball - which, regardless of community feedback, is very much what I expect from Sam (see above link).
- "Regardless of the choice of play style (Competitive or Authentic), the developers' desire remains the same: they want their game to remain fun" - there's that "fun" word, which means "streamlined" or "simplified" gameplay which doesn't represent football.
I hope this gameplay split is the start of great things, but I can't help but feel like it will always be hampered when he is the head of the operation.
* Exclusively when using Authentic Mode - online is Competitive-Mode-locked and thoroughly unenjoyable even with friends. Which just shows how important Authentic Mode is.
** Same old fundamental issues e.g. no momentum in the ball or players' bodies, passes like bullets, no fouls... Just very little of the game being determined by physics, but rather "fun" (with all passes magnetised to a target even on manual).
I see many videos on FC 26 beta, but I wonder if with Authentique mode settings enable, FC 26 feels better than these two personnal videos of FC 25 with custom sliders : better AI for the CPU, better rythme, better ball physics, better animations?
Lens Vs OM on Legend
OM vs AS Roma on Legend
@Chris Davies : you have made some matchs on the beta, so if you can say something about that, it will be wonderful. I know you will be totally honest, and I really appreciate that.
Thanks and take care mates
I'm happy to hear it, and you give me a glimmer of hope, sir. I will still try it out on EA Play first though, just to make sureTo put it simply - FC26 is better than 25 (on Authentic Mode) and if you enjoyed 25, you will enjoy this even more.
Yes — you’ve nailed how EA coded it. For user passes, the game takes your input:To put it simply - FC26 is better than 25 (on Authentic Mode) and if you enjoyed 25, you will enjoy this even more.
I think you will be very happy @saturator as you've enjoyed 25 with sliders and there are AI improvements and goalkeeper improvements for sure (though you have to play on Legendary to get a challenge).
But I didn't enjoy 25 and, overall, didn't enjoy this beta - because it's still nowhere near what I expect a football game to be (all pass physics are fake, pass accuracy is always mega-high and fouls don't exist - it's 2025 and the biggest selling football game still has less football in it than PES did 20 years ago).
However, I'm genuinely hopeful now that Authentic Mode exists (because Competitive Mode - the only gameplay we had up until last year - is now, frankly, insane).
EDIT: To answer your specific questions - AI has improved in the midfield. 1v1 (or as @Matt10 used to say, "ADD") still occurs regularly in defence and it's obvious every time, but it happens less. Better rhythm? I would say so (because you are genuinely forced into build-up play, which is new to me).
Ball physics? There are slight improvements (e.g. there is a slider that allows tackle outcomes to be physics-based), but generally, identical. Headed clearances and passes are so laser-accurate it's ridiculous, and physics are faked all over the place. Animations? Just as skatey/floaty and without momentum as ever.
Well, i can say that "perfect gameplay" is not "real gameplay".My time with the FC26 beta finished positively* - while fundamental issues will stop me from buying the game**, there are true positives. Midfielders tracking back and defenders (occasionally) working together actually force you into build-up play, for example - and the goalkeepers feel much more human. So I'm hopeful in this new direction.
...until I read, in your articles:
- "Sam Rivera, gameplay lead for FC26" - for obvious reasons (click here).
- "Entire months were invested to make the results of a tackle more reliable" - key word being "reliable", i.e. magnetic boots and a magic ball - which, regardless of community feedback, is very much what I expect from Sam (see above link).
- "Regardless of the choice of play style (Competitive or Authentic), the developers' desire remains the same: they want their game to remain fun" - there's that "fun" word, which means "streamlined" or "simplified" gameplay which doesn't represent football.
I hope this gameplay split is the start of great things, but I can't help but feel like it will always be hampered when he is the head of the operation.
* Exclusively when using Authentic Mode - online is Competitive-Mode-locked and thoroughly unenjoyable even with friends. Which just shows how important Authentic Mode is.
** Same old fundamental issues e.g. no momentum in the ball or players' bodies, passes like bullets, no fouls... Just very little of the game being determined by physics, but rather "fun" (with all passes magnetised to a target even on manual).
I agree, I think it’s impossible to make it realistic .Well, i can say that "perfect gameplay" is not "real gameplay".
They need to do some semplification in order to make a 90 minute real life game (average effective time 54min) playable in 12 (6 min half time) , around 4.5x times slower.
1) Players on the field have a different perspective form us playing from the top view. We can easily spot players around us and far away in less than a second or two. In real life you need to relay or tactical knowledge of where your mates are and you do that where you spent good part of the match running. So reducing play time in game make up for the time spent to recognize tthe field around you when you control the ball
2) If you let the ball physics relay excessively on random touches and bounces, you'll spend lot of precious time trying to grab the ball instead of making you favourite moves on the pitch, so "magnet" balls sometimes are needed.
3) If they make the animations and situations adherent to reality, most of the people (casual gamers) will complain that they will not be able to make passes, dribbles and shots or the players will do lots of extra movements to coordinate themself to shoot.
So, all of this stuff are needed to avoid to have a boring experience. Find the right "balance" between gamification of football and reality is not an easy tasks, as far you need to make happy both causal gamers (they just want to play an easy game after work) and hardcore (checking the stats and tactics of their team, want to play a match as similar as reality) and hardcore that have patience to overlook sluggish players, hard ball control and not doing unrealistic turns, managing the flow of a match (no more 90mins pressing)
Whilst I agree with all the points, i still don't understand the hypermotion positioning system. With this system, players move even less than they would in real life to position themselves in good spot. If they balanced the game so that the positioning system is more active(more players creating spaces, making runs, marking longer distances), that would be an overall good experience to speed up the game without having to use insane laser guided passing and lack of dribbling error, etc. With the positioning system they build, when you add a bit of error, most 6/7 mins games ends up with 1 or 2 overall shots because the players are just so damn static. But I agree with your reasoning but there are better alternatives to condense a game without introducing perfect passes, perfect touches, etc.Well, i can say that "perfect gameplay" is not "real gameplay".
They need to do some semplification in order to make a 90 minute real life game (average effective time 54min) playable in 12 (6 min half time) , around 4.5x times slower.
1) Players on the field have a different perspective form us playing from the top view. We can easily spot players around us and far away in less than a second or two. In real life you need to relay or tactical knowledge of where your mates are and you do that where you spent good part of the match running. So reducing play time in game make up for the time spent to recognize tthe field around you when you control the ball
2) If you let the ball physics relay excessively on random touches and bounces, you'll spend lot of precious time trying to grab the ball instead of making you favourite moves on the pitch, so "magnet" balls sometimes are needed.
3) If they make the animations and situations adherent to reality, most of the people (casual gamers) will complain that they will not be able to make passes, dribbles and shots or the players will do lots of extra movements to coordinate themself to shoot.
So, all of this stuff are needed to avoid to have a boring experience. Find the right "balance" between gamification of football and reality is not an easy tasks, as far you need to make happy both causal gamers (they just want to play an easy game after work) and hardcore (checking the stats and tactics of their team, want to play a match as similar as reality) and hardcore that have patience to overlook sluggish players, hard ball control and not doing unrealistic turns, managing the flow of a match (no more 90mins pressing)
I'd saz that it is a side effect. As humans, we need a second or two to look around, as machine, they just see vector representations in space. The moment a CPU player gets the ball, less than a millisecond later they already know where to deliver it and start the pass animation. Adding delays and other checks on a game that strive for 60fps and more stuff make less "controllable" and "testable"Whilst I agree with all the points, i still don't understand the hypermotion positioning system. With this system, players move even less than they would in real life to position themselves in good spot. If they balanced the game so that the positioning system is more active(more players creating spaces, making runs, marking longer distances), that would be an overall good experience to speed up the game without having to use insane laser guided passing and lack of dribbling error, etc. With the positioning system they build, when you add a bit of error, most 6/7 mins games ends up with 1 or 2 overall shots because the players are just so damn static. But I agree with your reasoning but there are better alternatives to condense a game without introducing perfect passes, perfect touches, etc.
As I said delays and context errors are hard to control in code.Yes — you’ve nailed how EA coded it. For user passes, the game takes your input:
- How long you hold the button = power (distance & speed).
- Your aim = direction.
- Then it injects a bit of context-based error from the gp_kickerror and gp_kickpass files.
For the AI (CPU passes), it’s not “charging up” power like a human would. Instead, the system does:
- Pass Target Calculation (gp_kickpass_targetcalc_*_runtime.bin)
- Finds the “best” receiver based on positioning, vision, difficulty.
- It doesn’t simulate a gradual button-hold, it just sets a desired end point.
- Ball Path Auto-Generation (gp_kickpass_passing_runtime.bin, gp_kickpass_cross_runtime.bin)
- Calculates a trajectory to connect passer → receiver.
- The ball is essentially teleported into that velocity vector; the pass power is “decided” by the engine, not the attributes.
- Difficulty Scaling (gp_cpuai_difficulty_runtime.bin)
- Legendary strips away most error (so almost laser passes).
- Professional/World Class has slightly more error injection.
- Error Injection Layer (gp_kickerror_passprecision_runtime.bin + context files)
- Small random offsets to angle, distance, speed.
- But by default, Legendary reduces these close to 0.
🔑 Why it feels wrong
- Because the CPU never charges power like the user, passes look “scripted” and unnaturally clean.
- The ball doesn’t “matter” — it’s not simulating how much force the foot puts into the ball, just placing it on a path to the receiver.
What we can mod - if you want AI passes to behave more like user manual passes (where ball contact & power actually matter):
- Edit gp_kickpass_targetcalc... to make AI less precise in selecting the “perfect” receiver.
- Increase gp_kickerror_passprecision_runtime.bin and cross error bins to inject more randomness in ball flight.
- In gp_cpuai_difficulty_runtime.bin, scale Legendary’s error up so it doesn’t override with 0 error.
This way, AI passes would sometimes under-hit, over-hit, or mis-aim — more like a user’s power-based input. But this is why passes are laser accurate; it’s not coded with ball physics in mind.
Firstly - I accept (and agree with) your point re: the "casual" audience, which is why it's a blessing that we have the "competitive" vs "authentic" gameplay switch now. It's been needed for a long time.So, all of this stuff are needed to avoid to have a boring experience.
I've been a part of the football gaming community for a really long time now mate, and in some ways I feel a bit chewed-up-and-spat-out by it. I've been a part of several betas, made countless videos of issues, pointed to @Anth James / @Matt10 / @Topaz etc. and their very clear descriptions of why the game isn't fun for a lot of us... and it was a significant amount of time wasted, because we aren't their core audience.@Chris Davies chris why dont you try get an interview with one of these fifa programmers and do a podcast and express the vision you'd like to see implemented into the game in the future.
Well, at the time was the peak of football experience, today is showing all the limits of age. The difference was mainly that the player were "hard" to turn, possessing "weight" and "inertia" especially when running, and the preparations for pass and shots, precious time that allow for ball fighting. Yep, that is what FC misses.Firstly - I accept (and agree with) your point re: the "casual" audience, which is why it's a blessing that we have the "competitive" vs "authentic" gameplay switch now. It's been needed for a long time.
Broadly speaking, there are two audiences playing this game. It has only ever been aimed at the "casual" audience, and very little risk has been taken in order to ensure the game keeps selling to that audience. It wouldn't make business sense to scare those customers away by changing the game.
(I would argue that 99% of players aren't "competitive" gamers and would actually be blown away by something more realistic, but also, I've worked for big businesses and I understand that if you have a money-making formula, you never change it, because capitalism.)
However, with regards to the point I've quoted specifically - especially now "authentic mode" exists:
This argument falls flat for me when you think about the fact that PES5/6 were anything but boring, but still had higher levels of pass error that made playing one team different from the next. Those games didn't even have manual passing for God's sake, let alone 360-degree input, but passes were subjected to error based on player positioning, pressure, and (most importantly) their attributes. Right now that's non-existent in FC.
Personally I don't like full-manual controls, by the way - 1) because it turns a pass-and-move team into a Sunday League team with some very unrealistic errors from professional footballers, and 2) because it renders a player's attributes null-and-void when every player should feel like themselves ... which, again, PES5/6 captured.
Of course a game has to simplify something in order for a 90 minute match to compress into 15 minutes, that's obvious - nobody is ignoring that. But it can still be more realistic, and not boring, nor need to be fully manual.
I hate to drone on about PES5/6 because I'm sick of playing them, and I am desperate to be given a game I can move on to... But, I played an "International Challenge" earlier (PES6's "road to World Cup" mode) and I drew 0-0 with Sweden, beat Hungary 4-0, and lost very narrowly to Spain 2-1. Every game was different, and the pass accuracy was different, because attributes really mattered. With FC it's the same results game in, game out, because even though FC has many systems (attributes, "playstyles", FCIQ, the difficulty level, assistance levels), realistically the gameplay has little variation - particularly the AI. Now that's boring.
EDIT:
I've been a part of the football gaming community for a really long time now mate, and in some ways I feel a bit chewed-up-and-spat-out by it. I've been a part of several betas, made countless videos of issues, pointed to @Anth James / @Matt10 / @Topaz etc. and their very clear descriptions of why the game isn't fun for a lot of us... and it was a significant amount of time wasted, because we aren't their core audience.
Having said that. Last year's "simulation mode" was the first ever "we see you" from EA, as far as I'm concerned - and this year's "authentic mode" gives us the only chance we have of things getting better.
But can it ever have the AI and physics of e.g. FIFA 16, and the attribute importance of e.g. PES5/6, when the animations have been mangled by Hypermotion and the physics, AI and gameplay further diminished by the demands of the "competitive" crowd? Which, by the way, 99% of FC players aren't?
I'm not sure (literally - I don't know) if there is a willingness to go that far, or whether "authentic mode" will always be a tweaked version of a (frankly) terrible game (or at least, a provably terrible representation of football). So I'm not sure if there would be a point.
Personally I don't like full-manual controls, by the way - 1) because it turns a pass-and-move team into a Sunday League team with some very unrealistic errors from professional footballers, and 2) because it renders a player's attributes null-and-void when every player should feel like themselves
Thanks you for your time to answer. I hope i could fix some important points to have a better experienceTo put it simply - FC26 is better than 25 (on Authentic Mode) and if you enjoyed 25, you will enjoy this even more.
I think you will be very happy @saturator as you've enjoyed 25 with sliders and there are AI improvements and goalkeeper improvements for sure (though you have to play on Legendary to get a challenge).
But I didn't enjoy 25 and, overall, didn't enjoy this beta - because it's still nowhere near what I expect a football game to be (all pass physics are fake, pass accuracy is always mega-high and fouls don't exist - it's 2025 and the biggest selling football game still has less football in it than PES did 20 years ago).
However, I'm genuinely hopeful now that Authentic Mode exists (because Competitive Mode - the only gameplay we had up until last year - is now truly insane).
EDIT: To answer your specific questions - AI has improved in the midfield. 1v1 (or as @Matt10 used to say, "ADD") still occurs regularly in defence and it's obvious every time, but it happens less. Better rhythm? I would say so (because you are genuinely forced into build-up play, which is new to me).
Ball physics? There are slight improvements (e.g. there is a slider that allows tackle outcomes to be physics-based), but generally, identical. Headed clearances and passes are so laser-accurate it's ridiculous, and physics are faked all over the place. Animations? Still skatey/floaty and without momentum.
Well, at the time was the peak of football experience, today is showing all the limits of age. The difference was mainly that the player were "hard" to turn, possessing "weight" and "inertia" especially when running, and the preparations for pass and shots, precious time that allow for ball fighting. Yep, that is what FC misses.
On attributes we have to blame the player "overall" system in FC and the formula to calculate that number. Making players stupidly "flat" just to have a way to compare players, since the formula allow basically a +-10 for all attributes used in that calculation.
completely agree with this view.
Some people really enjoy fully manual passing or shooting; in fact, they just take pride in mastering the skill of aiming with the right stick.
Even if the current engine cannot achieve the level of PRECISION MOVEMENT and artificial intelligence seen in the IGNITE engine, the new FIFA installment still has an excellent reference—FIFA 17—to draw from, and the issue of slow dribbling response in FIFA 17 is also very easy to fix.
With the utmost respect, what is your source for this? As far as I am aware from reading any official EA publication, Hypermotion is motion capture with Machine Learning for animations.That's hypermotion. They took a video camera, recorded an amateur team playing football and then used AI to generate those movement data into the positioning system based on rigid zones and you get static/boring/predictable positioning system of hypermotion where every match feels the same and every run feels the same.
I seem to recall they mentioned it in the trailer where Hypermotion was first launched. I'd guess that they recorded the amateur team first, then built onto it using the machine learning.With the utmost respect, what is your source for this? As far as I am aware from reading any official EA publication, Hypermotion is motion capture with Machine Learning for animations.
The players and specifically midfielders not tracking back was intentional by the EA Gameplay team and has nothing to do with Hypermotion (which was introduced in FIFA 22). And this problem arose in FIFA 20/21 (i cant remember the exact year). It was made more obvious by gameplay mods easily fixing it when they first introduced this stupidity. It was done because Ultimate Team players prefer to have a 1v1 mechanic across the pitch and as I said before, they also want IQ and player role suitability to be removed because they want 11 Platinum Mo Salahs on the pitch.
The previous gameplay producers were avid players and spokes people of Ultimate Team (watch any of the old videos) and they are completely to blame for everything people complain about here. It's only now things are starting to change but you can clearly see the power struggle between game designers wanting to create something "authentic" and then also suiting "competitive".
With the utmost respect, what is your source for this? As far as I am aware from reading any official EA publication, Hypermotion is motion capture with Machine Learning for animations.
The players and specifically midfielders not tracking back was intentional by the EA Gameplay team and has nothing to do with Hypermotion (which was introduced in FIFA 22). And this problem arose in FIFA 20/21 (i cant remember the exact year). It was made more obvious by gameplay mods easily fixing it when they first introduced this stupidity. It was done because Ultimate Team players prefer to have a 1v1 mechanic across the pitch and as I said before, they also want IQ and player role suitability to be removed because they want 11 Platinum Mo Salahs on the pitch.
The previous gameplay producers were avid players and spokes people of Ultimate Team (watch any of the old videos) and they are completely to blame for everything people complain about here. It's only now things are starting to change but you can clearly see the power struggle between game designers wanting to create something "authentic" and then also suiting "competitive".
More Flexible Roles
- Attacking Positioning - Players are less constrained by their Roles. If the opportunity presents itself, they can go beyond it or contribute to the play in more ways.
- New Versatile Focus to make specific Roles less rigid.
- Added more Focuses to existing Roles based on feedback.
- Significantly improved usage of regular Roles and Roles+, to bring them closer to Roles++.
- Drastically reduced the negative impact of being Out of Position.
- At launch, players will have more positions and Roles+/++ available.
- Players can go beyond the 4th position in FC 26.
- There will be more players with Role++ throughout FC 26’s cycle.
I wouldn't call it a terrible decision. Its a good decision implemented poorly. It made the game more like Football Manager but they broke something with the instruction system added to it. It is fixable with mods if you just remove the instructions.Sorry I mixed FC IQ with Hypermotion. Hypermotion is fine since it only changed animation because animations have more weight to them now than they did pre hypermotion. FC IQ on the other hand was a terrible decision. It introduced rigid zones and very static gameplay.
What scares me with EA when they suggest this is that they've essentially removed it. So once again we are hopping back and forth on a feature. If you read "Attacking Positioning - Players are less constrained by their Roles. If the opportunity presents itself, they can go beyond it or contribute to the play in more ways". This is annoying because if you have a system with a player in the role of "holding", you expect them to hold their position. If they are suggesting that they are removing that, then the IQ system just becomes pointless.From FC 26 deep dive, looks like they addressed it and this is what I am excited about the most. I REALLY REALLY hope they actually meant what they said and it's tweakable in EBX editing(so the ranges from how rigid can be tweaked)
I've watched many FC 26 Beta videos, and two things are certain: the "1v1" mechanism has been significantly improved (even in competitive mode), and the offensive AI has also been enhanced.From FC 26 deep dive, looks like they addressed it and this is what I am excited about the most. I REALLY REALLY hope they actually meant what they said and it's tweakable in EBX editing(so the ranges from how rigid can be tweaked)
I've watched many FC 26 Beta videos, and two things are certain: the "1v1" mechanism has been significantly improved (even in competitive mode), and the offensive AI has also been enhanced.
I've added timestamps for the highlights in the original video link below.