At last, our desires are starting to be addressed. If you want them to be more of a staunch defender, select another plan that’ll focus more on their defensive traits and defensive work rate. If you want your fullback to be more active in the attacking game, you can select a plan that’ll increase their speed, crossing, and attack rate. By choosing the right plan, a player can convert positions - from, say, fullback to winger - and improve in key areas for distinct approaches to their position. Back to BasicsĪ player’s growth has been separated from the playable training systems and is now determined by plans that take into account their position and specialties. The latest version of the world’s most popular sports video game, which officially launches on October 9 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC, has overhauled the training and development systems for Career Mode and shifted the focus of its mini game-like drills. This frustrating conundrum defined the experience of Career Mode’s youth development, but it appears as if it’s finally been solved in FIFA 21. Sure, a player could improve if they consistently played well in matches - but again, their initial stamina held them back. Most difficult of all was improving a player’s stamina, without which they couldn’t play a large number of minutes in matches. Growing a player’s skills largely depended on a mini game-based training system that was prone to overdeveloping a player in certain areas and messing up the balance of their skillset. Most prominently, it’s been nearly impossible to take advantage of the Youth Scouting and Youth Academy to produce a high-quality player for the senior team. Career Mode, in which players can take the reins of their favorite team over the course of several seasons, has only seen minor adjustments for the last five years and has largely failed to address players’ most frequent complaints.
With the rise of Ultimate Team and the microtransactions it’s enabled, the FIFA franchise has let languish what is still one of the most vital game modes for any sports title. After years of players begging for EA Sports to provide significant updates to Career Mode, FIFA 21 has finally taken a step forward.