It’s April by now and the FIFA hype is hardly noticeable. And yet: When the console is turned on, we still tend to press the yellow icon in the menu. Because there’s one thing we don’t need to question at the moment: We all HAVE to play FIFA 22.

Why is FIFA 22 a MUST?

Updates that change the game, server crashes that cost me points or simply opposing teams quitting online and thus stealing my time. By now, there are many reasons why I can get upset with EA Sports FIFA 22 soccer simulation. But when I do this with friends or acquaintances who don’t play themselves, I have to put up with the following counter-question:

“If the game upsets you so much, why are you still playing it at all?”

It’s certainly a fair question for outsiders. Why do we play this game day after day, only to get upset about it afterwards or during it? The short version would probably be that we have no other choice. And more detailed?

No competition – We all HAVE to play FIFA!

We all play FIFA year after year because we love soccer. Pushing the ball back and forth on the virtual turf, controlling our favorite players and rejoicing over a goal, just like watching a Bundesliga match together on the weekend. To do just that, we all have to play FIFA. There is currently no alternative.

At the moment, it’s safe to say that FIFA has no competition. eFootball from KONAMI, which got off to a completely bad start, recently released an update that still didn’t go down well with ex-professional Matthias “GoooL” Winkler:

I have now made five games[…]. It’s better than the DEMO but hasn’t catered to me yet.

A game that comes half a year later and still doesn’t “catcht” continues to force us to play FIFA 22. So will we all have to keep playing FIFA even though all we do is get excited about it? Will EA Sports continue to be unrivaled and therefore have little motivation to improve? I hope not. For the first time since I’ve been playing soccer sims, I feel like I might be on the verge of making a game decision.

Alternatives to EA Sports FIFA

eFootball from KONAMI we can obviously delete from the list of alternatives. So what is left for us?

The great hope is UFL from Strikerz Inc. The game is said to be free and fair. According to the developer, the game wants to be based on real soccer – and could therefore replace eFootball. Whether Strikerz Inc. can be a threat to EA Sports remains to be seen.

A further product we expect from FIFA itself. The soccer association has announced that it will release its own game. However, further information is missing here, which is why we cannot assess in which direction the simulation could go.

Hope for the future

In conclusion, I continue to be “forced” to play FIFA 22 because I want to play soccer. When I don’t enjoy Ultimate Team anymore, I switch to VOLTA FOOTBALL or play a few rounds of Pro Clubs.

In the future, this will probably change and I can ask myself the question whether I play FIFA 23, or EA Sports FC, as the game will probably be called soon. Or do I decide to play another soccer simulation? Another hope is of course that EA Sports has to make more effort, otherwise players:inside could change. As the saying goes: competition stimulates business.