FC 26 Developer EA Sports Actually Visited Content Creators' Homes to Test Their Internet Connections and Uncover the Real Reasons for Input Delay

If you’ve played FC 25 online, past chances are you volition person encountered input delay, that fraction of a 2nd betwixt pressing the fastener and a walk oregon changeable connected surface being performed, which tin often beryllium the quality betwixt a triumph and a loss.

Just similar immoderate twitch FPS oregon frame-perfect warring game, EA’s shot simulation relies connected the actions being performed by its characters feeling arsenic responsive arsenic imaginable successful bid for the playing tract to consciousness fair. The developer knows this, and truthful has enactment an extended magnitude of probe into solving this often-vocalised interest among the Ultimate Team assemblage up of FC 26’s launch.

“We truly needed to recognize the basal of the problem”, elder shaper Sam Rivera told IGN. “We worked with pro players, we gathered information from players each astir the satellite to effort to recognize the issues, but we didn't privation to lone perceive to the feedback. We wanted to acquisition input hold ourselves. So we besides traveled to Europe to conscionable with pro players astatine their eSports studios. We really met with contented creators astatine their homes, and we learned a lot.”

Through this research, EA discovered that the issues were manyfold, some astatine the subordinate and developer extremity of the pipeline. On the subordinate side, determination are things you tin bash to minimise the chances of input hold occurring. It whitethorn look evident to some, but connecting to the net via Ethernet cablegram is overmuch much unchangeable than Wi-Fi.

“If you play connected Wi-Fi, you tin person jitter and packet loss, which tin make a precise delayed experience”, explained Rivera. “We cognize that much than 50% of FC players are playing connected Wi-Fi, truthful we urge that [connecting via ethernet] if possible. And past things similar TV settings. If you're playing extracurricular of crippled mode connected a mean TV, you tin get anyplace betwixt 20 to implicit 100 milliseconds delaying your experience, careless of your connection, careless of the game, conscionable due to the fact that of the TV. So determination are a batch of things that spell into the equation, but what are the causes of hold erstwhile you are playing successful a high-quality oregon bully connection, oregon erstwhile you're playing offline?”

Yes, input hold is not strictly an internet-based issue. With players reporting the improvement successful offline play too, it led Rivera and the squad to look into the operation of the crippled itself to spot what was causing the issue:

“First is constricted animation coverage. Sometimes we petition actions successful the crippled that are precise hard to perform. So if there's a precise accelerated incoming shot and I privation to spell for a agelong walk backwards, that is precise difficult, and sometimes determination are nary animations for that. So it is similar successful existent life, precise hard to perform. It's hard for america to seizure those animations. However, this twelvemonth we're adding galore caller animations arsenic good to marque definite we person much sum successful general.”

“The adjacent 1 is the animation strategy box,” Rivera conitnued. “Our animation strategy is possibly 1 of the astir analyzable systems successful the game, and it has to lick each request, each shot, each pass, considering what animations are available, wherever the opponents are, however the shot is moving, and each of that.

"And sometimes determination tin beryllium a bug. So, for example, you whitethorn privation to instrumentality a changeable immediately, but past the strategy whitethorn determine to hold the changeable slightly, to similar to usage the beardown ft alternatively of taking it earlier but with the weaker foot. So things similar that hap often, not precise often. But erstwhile you play 20 matches connected your weekend, you volition acquisition it a fewer times. So this year, we're fixing dozens of those problems successful the game.”

Improvements are connected the mode successful FC 26, then, and from the abbreviated magnitude of clip I spent playing it, it did consciousness noticeably creaseless and responsive — with the caller one-frame passes and shots being a existent highlight. But volition input hold ever beryllium an contented that’s wholly eradicated?

“Well, it depends”, Rivera responded. “There are galore factors that spell into input delay. There are factors that are sometimes internal, sometimes external. Then there's not a elemental hole different than providing much accusation to the community, trying to assistance with their setups arsenic well, making definite everyone has the close setup. But astatine slightest we deliberation that there's a large opportunity. There's a large accidental there. We person done a precise bully measurement successful FC 26 to make a much responsive game.”

Simon Cardy is simply a Senior Editor astatine IGN who tin chiefly beryllium recovered skulking astir unfastened satellite games, indulging successful Korean cinema, oregon despairing astatine the authorities of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him connected Bluesky astatine @cardy.bsky.social.