FIFA Mobile 2017 Edition Released, Aims to Bring Football to Everyone

Two weeks after the release of FIFA 17, EA Sports has delivered a new update for its mobile counterpart in FIFA Mobile. As always, the game is free with in-app purchases to boot, and is available on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. The game is called different things on the three platforms - on the App Store, it's called FIFA Mobile Football, on Google Play, FIFA Mobile Soccer, and on Windows Store it becomes FIFA 17 Mobile.

EA Sports says that the game is built for the “mobile gamer”, and hence it has shrunk the download size to under 100MB, so as to reach smartphone owners across the globe, except China – the game isn’t launching in the country. FIFA Mobile contains 30 leagues, with 650 clubs and over 16,000 footballers.

“When developing FIFA Mobile, we focused on giving players the most exciting parts of football in quick and fun bursts while prioritising gameplay and engaging, new ways to play FIFA on-the-go,” senior producer Todd Batty said in a statement. “This meant building a game that was optimised for the mobile player resulting in a fun and social game that loads quickly, runs smoothly on a wider range of devices, and has a small download size relative to the depth of features and content in the game.”

There are three new features, all exclusive to the mobile version. Attack Mode is a new turn-based, asynchronous multiplayer mode which is all about, well, attacking. You’ll be given a bunch of scenarios in which to score from, and ultimately out-score the opponent. The more you score, the more you get in-game “fans” which lets you climb divisions.

Another new feature is Leagues, which allows you to create or join a league with up to 32 players. You will be able to complete “cooperative league achievements, compete for bragging rights in inter-league championships, and challenge other Leagues in FIFA Mobile tournaments”.

Completing the round-up of new features is Plans, which is about making the most of unwanted items to get better ones through in-game rewards.

Ultimate Team mode is getting an overhaul of sorts, too. EA Sports is dropping contracts, training items and other consumables in favour of simple squad building. You can have a total of 27 players in multiple formations and tactics, and switch between those as you like.

The game will be continuously updated with new content that reflects events happening in the real world of football, EA Sports said. Early response to the latest update seems to be heavily negative, according to reviews on Google Play.