After much hype, EA Sports finally came up with its first official gameplay reveal of FC 24 — the maiden installment in the EA Sports FC series after the company's partnership with FIFA ended — on September 19-20. The stream was quite a hit among fans and prominent streamers, with many not only watching what was in store but also playing and testing the game themselves.
The highly-anticipated sports game is set to launch globally on September 29 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Interestingly, despite many feeling that 'FC' stands for 'Football Club' thanks to EA's marketing methods, it has not been defined officially, with the developer implying thus:
"Created for fans by fans, EA SPORTS FC is a new Football Club for the future of football we want to build together."
Most popular and watched games on Twitch between September 19 and 20
The official gameplay reveal for EA Sports FC 24 notched 39K Hours Watched, 42K Peak Viewers, and 29K Average Viewers over an airtime of one hour and 20 minutes. It was the third-most-popular broadcast for the channel in 2023, with some giveaways available for viewers as the broadcast progressed.
Fans got a first-time look at the in-game menus and features like Ultimate Team, FC Founder, and Evolutions. The latter mode requires gamers to level up players to pre-set maximum points within the game, although there are criteria that they can check before choosing to go with a particular footballer.
The gameplay seemed a lot smoother than previous FIFA versions, with the transition between menus, too, proving to be a lot slicker. The fact that football teams can now be a mix of male and female players added an interesting dynamic to the mix, and it remains to be seen how the best users are able to churn out maximum positive results with such squads.
Prominent streamers have a field day
Apart from gameplay reveal, a lot of big-name content creators gained pre-access to the game to see what the EA Sports FC crew had in store for fans. Some of the most popular names to stream the game (well, mainly pack openings) out of around 200 included DjMaRiiO, Castro_1021, ibai, MontanaBlack88, and Spursito.
The most successful of these names was DjMaRiiO, whose stream did 471K HW and 117K PV. American Castro_1021 was able to hit 349K HW during his broadcast, and he seemed to have quite an eventful time playing what will clearly be a game that won't be easy for everyone to master on the first try.
Interestingly, the official gameplay reveal was only the fifth most popular broadcast for the game on September 19. It was also only 14th on the most-watched table, once again proving how important streamers are to the performance of video games and to the esports industry in general.
With features like HyperMotionV, Advanced 11v11 Match Capture, Machine Learning, and Full Team Volumetric Motion, EA Sports FC is bound to raise a lot of noise once it officially releases at the end of this month. Those who want to pre-order it can do so here, and they will be entitled to certain special benefits as a result. Fans who buy the Ultimate Edition will also be able to gain bonuses like early access, kits, 4.6K FC points, player items, and access to the Nike Ultimate Team campaign.
