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

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.