New FIFA 10 patch this week, EA keen to address remaining issues

By Tom Bramwell Published 15 October, 2009

Eurogamer speaks to EA Canada.

EA Sports has told Eurogamer that a large number of the problems reported with FIFA 10 on the official forums have been addressed or will be addressed by a new patch, which should be out this week.

"We have already created one patch based on gameplay feedback after the demo went live, and we are now creating another one that will go out this week (fingers crossed), in order to give our gamers the best possible experience," a spokesperson for EA Canada told Eurogamer overnight.

We asked whether issues with Game Face, Live Seasons, Club Mode and disconnections were connected, and whether there was any progress sorting them out.

On Game Face and Live Seasons, we were referred to EA's public posts on the subject, which include advice on Game Face usability and a workaround for people experiencing problems with Live Seasons 2.0.

For Club Mode, we were told that problems were "to do with stat-tracking and should be fixed as a result of server-side fixes and some updates in [the new patch] that is going out shortly".

Disconnections, meanwhile, are "a PS3-only issue - caused by us using PSN 'Rich Presence' - so if you had lots of friends all playing FIFA at the same time it overloaded PSN code. Fixed in Patch 2, and by reducing friends lists [in the meantime]."

Manager Mode has also been a bone of contention, with many users reporting bugs, such as the AI flogging your players without asking. Whoops. EA told Eurogamer it's "addressing a number of these issues in the next update due any day soon. Notably AI selling your players without your permission, form, goalie assists, budgets and improvements to stability."

FIFA 10's general gameplay, however, will not be altered. "We're not intending to change any gameplay," he were told. "Our Metacritic reflects that part of the game more than any and we're very happy with the quality of the on the pitch action - and the overwhelming positive feedback from our fans."

But we weren't done there. Did you know some of the kits are incorrect? Some gentlemen on the EA forums noticed.

"Every year we do our best to be 100 per cent accurate," EA replied. "That said, we are dependent on our partners at leagues and clubs providing us with the reference. It's usual that we get these for the vast majority of our clubs, but for some we do not - and they will have errors or omissions.

"Indeed, sometimes the clubs change their minds [when we've already started] building the kits! That said - all our kits etc. are approved by the manufacturers, clubs and leagues - but with a game the size of FIFA there will always be a small number of disappointed kit aficionados."

Finally, we asked what the team actually did when it was faced with problems around a game launch. Surely everyone's off on the beach by then?

Apparently not. "It's the same every year - we don't have a moment to bask in the glory of a great game," came the response. "We've had the entire team mobilised to look into nearly every real and imaginary issue that's been reported - and this has been a 24/7 effort.

"We've improved some things that we thought needed to be improved, and will evaluate other reports as they come in. As I say - we're continuing to monitor, and our second update is proof that we've not 'fired and forgotten' about the game.

"We want to make sure people are not just going to enjoy FIFA for a few days, but continue to enjoy it for the next year at least."

Check out our FIFA 10 review to see what we thought of it overall.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (51) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • mkreku #1 2 years ago

    ""We want to make sure people are not just going to enjoy FIFA for a few days, but continue to enjoy it for the next year at least."

    Yeah. Until FIFA11 when the FIFA10 support will end abruptly.

  • Petulant_Radish #2 2 years ago

    Why do none of my players accept new contracts, even when I offer them vastly improved terms? The ones with a few months left will never accept even if they’re happy with the club and I offer double wages, the fools!

  • towser #3 2 years ago

    Best footie game ever!

    First football game I have bought since FIFA '95 and worth every penny :-)

  • Zomoniac #4 2 years ago

    Nothing about putting in realistic scores in manager mode then? Some of the simmed results are just insane. Games with more than ten goals happen every week in my season (despite there only being one game ever in Premier League history with a double-digit total). Chelsea 7 Fulham 9???

  • MyAfroAndMe #5 2 years ago

    Manager mode is unplayable. Not going to bother list the 70 or so known bugs but it is a massive fuck up for such a marquee game. Trading this in toward Uncharted 2 tomorrow while the trade in value is still 25quid or so. Will buy it after xmas when cheap assuming that they can make manager mode playable.

  • abydos #6 2 years ago

    What, no questions about why the PC version is such a piece of shit and the Wii version has better graphics than it? Or why it is so god damn buggy? Shame on you! :D

  • dr_swin #7 2 years ago

    yes - but why did they wreck the club mode?

  • djpray2k #8 2 years ago

    Love FIFA but wish I didn't. Being online now just seems to give the likes of EA the option to release sub-par games.

    I found one of my players I signed in my 1st transfer window was now at another club (pissed me off) and I guess this is why. I have serious doubts about the play testing at EA. With Manager Mode being touted as having major improvements I would have expect things like this to never get through.

  • onezeonx #9 2 years ago

    Good to see EA IGNORE the people over at the fifa forums and say they dont know when the patch is coming!

    Yet they have the time to tell eurogamer lol

  • Lotos8ter #10 2 years ago

    Great game - don't think there's any place for an achievement for early quitting in online games though.
    Even if the achievement is OG and called "Bad Loser"; a lot of bad losers just want the vacuous ach. anyways.

    Not good EA but a great game nonetheless.

  • kestral #11 2 years ago

    Good stuff about how they go about the patch, but possible some of it is guilt in delivering a game with these issues. That said, I've never found any issues yet myself.
    Edited by 1 at 15/10/09 @ 10:20

  • Dave797 #12 2 years ago

    Good news, if the main glitches are tied up with this patch then hopefully that will quiten down some of the less understanding

  • sebsal #13 2 years ago

    The Manager Mode is a joke. If you go through EA's own blog articles about Manager mode they either lied or released the wrong code

  • djhsecondnature #14 2 years ago

    I must be quite lucky, Manager Mode has been fantastic for me.

  • Zomoniac #15 2 years ago

    I must be quite lucky, Manager Mode has been fantastic for me.

    Indeed. Stupid scorelines are the only 'bug' I've had so far. That and the annoyingly long processing between games during the transfer window are my only real complaints about MM.

  • tobi #16 2 years ago

    how did the game get a 9 with all these bugs and glitches?

  • Placebo #17 2 years ago

    Notably AI selling your players without your permission, form, goalie assists, budgets and improvements to stability.

    I sure hope that's not the extent of the MM fixes as there's a hell of a lot more problems than just those things.

  • Zomoniac #18 2 years ago

    how did the game get a 9 with all these bugs and glitches?

    Because without all the bugs and glitches it would've been a 10?

  • jimmyhill11 #19 2 years ago

    what is 'Club Mode'?
    I know the menu screens are an absolute dog to try and negotiate, but its still slightly worrying that there is a whole mode in the game of which I am unaware....

  • keano #20 2 years ago

    some things do seem lazily done....like the fact only 4 teams have the correct colour ball in the championship....the rest get a bog standard blue one....championship is 5th most watched league in the world....and gets no respect from this game

  • Zomoniac #21 2 years ago

    what is 'Club Mode'?

    Be A Pro online, basically. You and up to 9 others each become a player, and compete in leagues and tourneys against other clubs. It's basically the closest conceivable way of simming actually playing for a football team. And you can use your virtual pro in it as well.

  • Lionheart #22 2 years ago

    I was sacked despite being 3rd in the League as 'boro... I also had just beaten QPR 2-0...

    I hope this gets sorted.

  • CableNut #23 2 years ago

    hope they sort out the logouts while playing in club mode.
    also alot of dodgy little bugs while in club lobby with fellow Eurogamers, it saying 2 users are in room 1-2 and they're not :(
    Edited by 2 at 15/10/09 @ 13:30

  • Mildew #24 2 years ago

    Noticed I can't bring my players forward during set plays (using d-pad to change between offensive and defensive) - indicator doesn't show on screen! My most annoying thing with 09 was that the power bar didn't show in some cases when taking a free kick - thankfully 10 doesn't seem to have the problem fingers crossed.

  • Hantheman #25 2 years ago

    Hope they fix the achievement problems.

  • tobi #26 2 years ago

    Because without all the bugs and glitches it would've been a 10?

    What I was getting at is that the reviews never mentioned any of the issues that the game has, it was as if they were playing a different game.
    Edited by 1 at 15/10/09 @ 11:48

  • PaniK #27 2 years ago

    I love how the reviews failed to address all these problems (players freezing on the pitch ffs!!!!). Certainly raises a few eyebrows.

  • El-Dev #28 2 years ago

    Will the patch fix:
    the horrendous AI
    long delay between pressing the pass/shoot button and anything happening
    pitiful refs
    awful manager mode(scored 4 goals in one game with my striker and the next match his rating was down 5 points)
    spastic defenders
    terrible strength defecits between players

    the game is almost unplayable as it is.

  • Gazza_UK #29 2 years ago

    no problems for me... el dev, some of those complaints could be said about football in general nevermind a game about it.

  • curtlikesmeat #30 2 years ago

    Pity none of the issues were noticed in the review in order to reflect the score appropriately eh?

  • El-Dev #31 2 years ago

    Gazza, the problem is that when you play Fifa for a while it's always the same things happen and they really become apparent as major flaws and it's very frustrating. I've lost two controllers because I basically lost the plot playing online twice because of stupid faults in the game.

  • Zomoniac #32 2 years ago

    WTF??? Somebody asks what a mode is and I explain, and get marked down for it? (along with all my other comments going down 1). Someone evidentally has something against me. Someone with wayyy too much time and a meaningless existence.

  • Syrette #33 2 years ago

    I've lost two controllers because I basically lost the plot playing online twice because of stupid faults in the game.

    Sounds like you've got anger management issues.

  • Drpwnage #34 2 years ago

    The biggest issue for me is in online clubs (outstanding game mode, one of the best Co-op modes around) that is to often ruined by the other team quitting when they are behind. We even had this last night with 70minutes game match time played and 3-1 up.

    All EA need to do is freeze the score at the point the other team quit and count that as a tracked result including goal scorers for the stat tracking!

  • collateral89 #35 2 years ago

    it pissed me off when i was kicking someones ass online and he quitted out and it didnt even give me the win!!!!!

  • Turrican #36 2 years ago

    The marking down of MMOs for buggy launch states while ignoring the condition of AAA titles like Fifa 10 astounds me. I fear its down to the restrictive reviewing scenarios sites like Eurogamer sign up to in order to secure their review on time, combined with the absurd autumn rush of games that has blighted the industry for the past decade.

    Something needs to change, because as consumers we are not being served well by either parties. A site needs to stop whoring itself to the publishers / advertising revenue and stand by its reputation, deadline or no. The site that does this will find a unique place in the online landscape

    As for the game, its sitting on my shelf waiting for the patch(s) that will deliver the Manager Mode that was promised on the back of the box!

  • Currychips #37 2 years ago

    Only bug that I've noticed is the game selling players I have already bought, giving me no compensation and often selling them for 3 times what I paid! Other than that, it's the only bug I honestly have a problem with. The players refusing to sign a contract isn't important when you can sign them at the end of the season for less... :)

  • cianchristopher #38 2 years ago

    Can this patch include a goal celebration where I take off all my clothes and climb onto the ref's back whooping and hollering like I'm at a rodeo?

    That's the kind of patch that'd raise eyebrows!!!

  • Placebo #39 2 years ago

    Only bug that I've noticed is the game selling players I have already bought, giving me no compensation and often selling them for 3 times what I paid! Other than that, it's the only bug I honestly have a problem with. The players refusing to sign a contract isn't important when you can sign them at the end of the season for less... :)

    League 2 clubs in European Competition, zero prize money/ transfer funds for promotion to the prem, zero long term injuries, being sacked despite top of the league, AI putting forwards in goal, none of this stuff bothers you?

  • rashes #40 2 years ago

    I'm absolutely loving this game. The Pro and Club stuff is impressive.

    However, we are getting a lot of issues with players getting dropped out in the lobby before starting a 'My Club' pro game thingie.
    Anyone else getting this or is it a dumb NAT issue?

  • tinners #41 2 years ago

    "We've had the entire team mobilised to look into nearly every real and imaginary issue that's been reported"

    Well that's all well and good but pandering to the masses does not mean listening to everyone.

    I know a lot of people myself included who can't understand why there is no 2 v 2 lobby, 3 v 3 and so on.
    Allowing you to make a lobby like last time means you can create a room called 2 v 2 but essentially 10 peolpe can join on each side and getting a game because EA still do not choose to lock the room for you means it takes me and my mate ages to play, which is due to people trying to start a 4 v 6 game or some stupid number which aint even close to 2 v 2 !!!

    Secondly - Why can't you kick people anymore? this would let me kick ppl so maybe i can get a 2 v 2 going within half an hour

    Thirdly - Why oh why can't i rematch anyone in 2 v 2 or any online team play setting for that matter, yes i can rematch a 1 v 1 game but once again EA provides essentially 50 menus that all have the same function as one :(

    just fix that an my life is complete, bar that the game is amazing and 9/10 is spot on!
    Edited by 1 at 15/10/09 @ 14:52

  • WiseGuy #42 2 years ago

    First i have read about any of the bugs but it certainly explains a couple of things:

    Like Petulant_Radish i cant resign any of my players. This hasnt bothered me so much by now as im still season one and the guys i was trying to resign are bit part players but next year i have some better players out of contract.
    Also explains why my best midfielder who i signed at start of season has mysteriously vanished from my squad (he doesnt show up as being transferred and my bank balance hasnt been boosted any - very very annoying)

    Hopefully this will be fixed asap and will work with games already started

  • jaangus #43 2 years ago

    Disconnections, meanwhile, are "a PS3-only issue - caused by us using PSN 'Rich Presence' - so if you had lots of friends all playing FIFA at the same time it overloaded PSN code. Fixed in Patch 2, and by reducing friends lists [in the meantime]."

    well thats a load of rubbish I keep getting cut off on xbox360 and have got someone from EA tech support looking into it for me funny how they try and say its my connection when i can play a friend online but nothing else and had no trouble with fifa09 or any other games. I will let you know how i get on if anyone cares or has a similar problem.

  • El-Dev #44 2 years ago

    Also they still haven't fixed the filling the defence issue. I played someone who had basically 5 defenders and 5 strikers and he was impossible to play against. I wish someone would explain to EA that the midfield is the most important area of the pitch. Frustrating as hell as everyone does it online, takes all the fun outta playing the game. Considering trading it in in the morning.

  • T4RG4 #45 2 years ago

    I find the UI massively confusing when it comes to playing online with friends against randoms...

  • NKSR #46 2 years ago

    I spent an entire season getting Aldershot's fitness up to 10, to find, 3 matches in League 1, my players are already wankered

  • Placebo #47 2 years ago

    I spent an entire season getting Aldershot's fitness up to 10, to find, 3 matches in League 1, my players are already wankered

    It's simulating match fitness, each player needs 4-5 full games to be fully match fit.

  • Currychips #48 2 years ago

    League 2 clubs in European Competition, zero prize money/ transfer funds for promotion to the prem, zero long term injuries, being sacked despite top of the league, AI putting forwards in goal, none of this stuff bothers you?

    I've yet to experience any of those things yet as I always have the assistant manager off and I'm still to complete my first season. The only bug that's hit me so far has been the selling off of my players, which is annoying enough.

  • Placebo #49 2 years ago

    So the details are released for the update, out of 70+ bugs/glitches they fixed a grand total of 6, then announced there are no plans for further patches, way to go EA, much thanks Eurogamer and other review sites for putting zero pressure on EA and letting them get away with releasing a bug ridden glitch fest of a game.
    Edited by 1 at 20/10/09 @ 00:19

  • Monty9002 #50 2 years ago

    Reading about the bugs glitches etc, has anyone come across this:
    i started in managermode with liverpool and the first 2 seasons i won everything and built up my reputation so all was fine.....until the start of season 3. my budgets went crazy; i mean wages dropped from something like 630K to 35k per week, i thought i had lost my players but no they were all there. but even more crazy was the transfer budget, it had changed to -£2400 billion plus!!! yeah that overdrawn so no buying players and no staff upgrade so i wasted like two weeks playing in the evenings. so i just started over again to see if it happen at the start of the 3rd season this time!!!!

    oh and to stop ur players being sold off when u dont want them to be, just sell ur rubbish players until the board says it wont allow you to sell anymore coz u might unbalance the team. when the transfer window opens again u will be allowed to sell some more players if u want.
    yeah selling is not a prob its buying them though!!!!!
    Edited by 3 at 20/10/09 @ 16:24

  • makaveli356 #51 2 years ago

    We have teamed up and we have 30 people in a online team all xbox 360 we all have no problems. In manager mode im playing my 6th season. Fifa rulezzzzz.....