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What's the story?
The FIFA World Cup, to be held in Russia later in June, is slowly attracting all the eyeballs even as the domestic football season nears its end. And EA Sports, unsurprisingly, has announced that the long-awaited World Cup mode will be released as a free update for FIFA 18 on May 29, 2018.
EA further confirmed the update will be arriving on multiple platforms like, PS4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch.
In case you didn't know...
Since 1998, EA Sports has released a dedicated game for the World Cup. Be it the World Cup 98, the first official FIFA World Cup game developed by EA, 2002 FIFA World Cup, 2006 FIFA World Cup, 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa or 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, the American video game company have always had a separate game just for the World Cup.
This year, though, they have announced that it will be released as a free update for FIFA 18.
The heart of the matter
Although there were concerns that a number of teams might not be there in the update, EA has announced all 32 nations who qualified for the World Cup will feature. Moreover, there will also be a solo mode, that lets one take a team through the entire journey, from the group stage to the final in Moscow.
The update will, of course, include all the players of the 32 nations (most of them already exist as part of FIFA 18), national kits and badges. Furthermore, EA will also be adding 12 official stadiums from Russia, the new match ball, the World Cup trophy, and some extra "cinematic scenes" alongside some fresh commentary.
The build-your-own-squad Ultimate Team mode is also being tweaked for the event. There will be legendary "icons" to collect as well — the likes of Pele, Maradona, and other World Cup greats might feature (whispers) — to strengthen one's side.
What's next?
The update comes on May 29th, just a couple of weeks before the World Cup kicks off in Russia and with all the new features, it promises to be bigger and better than ever.
Author's take
The new World Cup mode promises to deliver authentic gameplay, more life-like graphics, teams and stadiums in the single-biggest add-on since FIFA 14. For avid enthusiasts of the gaming series like myself, May 29 can’t come soon enough.
