This weekend, I came up against a 92-rated Trailblazers Kylian Mbappe in Division Rivals. I haven’t ventured into FUT Champions yet due to life getting in the way, so thankfully a win was the only thing on the line. But it got me thinking about the nature ofEA Sports FC 24’spromos, and the speed at which the company is releasing high-rated promos compared to previous seasons.
The Road to the Knockouts promo before Trailblazers unleashed 92-rated Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski on the world, as well as 91-rated Luka Modric and the 90-rated Bruno Fernandes and Victor Osimhen cards. These cards could potentially rise by two ratings if their respective teams perform as expected in European competitions, meaning some players could be walking around with a 94-rated Haaland in November.November.
This is an unprecedented rate of releasing huge players in the game. While the RTTK promo is nothing new, the sheer number of high-rated meta players this year seems like an increase to the usual power curve. Coupled with Trailblazers, an all-new promo, adding buffed up versions of Kylian Mbappe and Mohammed Salah to the fray a week later, and we have the opportunities to build the best squads we’ve ever packed at this stage of the game.
This is why I believe we’re headed for Ultimate Team’s first 100-rated player. Previous seasons have culminated in teams of 99-rated players, with FIFA 23 doling out the top rating to everyone from Declan Rice to Moussa Diaby, alongside legends of the game like Pele, Lionel Messi, and Zinedine Zidane. You can’t pretend you’d heard of Cagliari’s Uzbek striker Eldor Shomurodov before his 98-rated SBC.
But we’re not in August any more. The new season of EA’s popular football game always resets your Ultimate Team progress each year, but there’s even more change this time around. Aside from the shift in branding, name change, and addition of meta-altering PlayStyles, EA Sports FC might have something else in its back pocket. I think we’re going to see the game’s first ever 100-rated card this year.
It wouldn’t be a complete surprise to those who play the game’s mobile version. FIFA 23 Mobile saw players like Edwin van der Sar and David Beckham reach peak ratings of 122, and many others get close. No, I don’t know why they picked that number either.
EA is consolidating all of its games into one ecosystem. We’ve got EA Sports WRC, EA Sports F1 23, and EA Sports PGA Tour, so it makes sense that FIFA was the next in line after the naming contract dispute. It seems like Madden is the last holdout of games with actual names, but I suspect it will fall into line in the future, too. Many of these games have their own versions of Ultimate Team, games which revolve around opening gamble packs, either with your own cash or as in-game rewards. It’s safe to assume that EA wants to consolidate this into one universal experience that players can flit between. Why not include its mobile offerings in the ecosystem then? And once it’s there, why have different ratings systems across different games?
EA FC 24’s Ultimate Team will introduce the main series’ first 100-rated player, I’m sure of it. If the current trajectory is anything to go by, we should be getting 97s and 98s by Team of the Year in January, which leaves Team of the Season in a tricky spot. The only way is upwards, because EA needs those chase cards to sell those packs. 100-rated Mbappe, you heard it here first.
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