The Basics of FIFA's Ultimate Team Mode

FIFA is simply one of the biggest game franchises in the world; its latest iteration FIFA 22 has been out for a couple of months now, and it’s been received very well. This is highlighted by the fact that FIFA 22 has been sitting pretty at the top of the sales charts in many countries worldwide.

FIFA has proved to be a very lucrative series for its publishers, Electronic Arts, with sales of last year’s title amassing over $1.6 billion between April 2020 and March of this year. What’s astonishing, though, is that via its Ultimate Team game mode, the company also made a similar amount, $1.62 billion. However, that’s the total revenue earned from their sports titles, which have built-in game modes, namely the Madden and NHL’s franchises. Although the majority of that eye-watering sum of money did come from FIFA.

But what is Ultimate Team?

Ultimate Team is a game mode built into the FIFA titles that allow players to build a team to take to the pitch made up of any players available in the game; these players have unique stats, which determines their ability. But, allied to that is the importance of chemistry between them, so ideally, you would sign players from the same league or those of the same nationality to give them a natural link. Of course, every team needs a manager, and the same chemistry applies there, too; if the boss isn’t from the same league or nation, the players won’t respond to the best of their abilities.

How do you get the players?

You start the game with a limited amount of in-game FIFA coins, which allows you to buy what looks like packs of virtual soccer cards known as FUT Cards. These packs contain the players to utilize in your team; however, who you get in those packs is entirely random. So, you will be unlikely to find the perfect team straight away. Therefore, you need to obtain more packs; more packs mean more players, so you also need more FIFA coins.

You can play games, and the more you win, the more coins you gain, unlocking achievements along the way, giving you extra coins too. However, early in the game, you will have a limited number of coins, and as explained in a Bwin infographic on FIFA, that means boxing clever in the transfer market. Yes, the game has a transfer market, and it works much like the real thing in that the best players hold the highest value. So, suppose you are lucky enough to get the highest-rated player, Lionel Messi in one of your packs. In that case, you might consider sacrificing him for a high price to get the necessary funds for a better team overall if you’re still looking to build your team.

There are also other methods to improve your team via the Squad Builder Challenge. This is a method where unwanted players can be set aside to build a unique squad set to specific requirements. These requirements range from submitting a team full of players from one particular league to ensuring one of the players in it is designated as ‘rare.’ After submitting your team you’ll be able to exchange them for anything from a pack containing 50 player items, to obtaining 1 special player item only available via the challenge.

It has to be noted that FUT player packs can be purchased using real money, but as you can see, it’s entirely possible to build your team without even spending a dollar of your hard-earned cash, if you have the patience.

Playing the game

Of course, the fun part comes when you play the game, and this is a sure-fire way to raise your coin balance. Even if you lose as you’re building your squad, there’s still an ample reward. The fun comes in playing the players you bought to bring success. Victories bring quicker promotion from the lowly division 10 you start in, and it’s possible to advance right up to the elite league. There are Champions weekend tournaments where qualifiers can compete for more in-game rewards too.

FIFA’s Ultimate Team mode brings a different angle to simply just playing soccer on screen. Whilst there is rightly a debate from journalists at The Athletic, about the ethical side of offering ‘loot box’ style extras to a game that could encourage extra spending. It is possible to negate that; you just have to be strong-willed and patient enough to resist the temptation. But we’ll leave that debate for another day.

Galit Gordon

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I'm a published author and proud US Army veteran who happens to be a gamer, so I decided to combine the two and love every minute of it! Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments and I'll be sure to get back to you.