FIFA 19 Survival Mode Is EA's Take on Battle Royale

FIFA 19 has a September 25 release date and aside from tweaking player ratings, there's a new mode too. Dubbed as Survival Mode, has more in common with the battle royale genre popularised by PUBG and Fortnite than well...football. In FIFA 19 Survival Mode, each goal you score has one of your players (chosen at random) leaving the pitch. Unlike battle royale however, you don't get to a situation wherein it's down to the last player standing and the pitch doesn't reduce in size either. This is because it follows real life football rules wherein a match is abandoned if either side has fewer than seven players. So to win, you need to score five goals resulting in five of your players making an exit from the match.

And while having some similarities to the battle royale genre, EA states this was devised long before PUBG Corp and Epic Games popularised it.

"That battle royale thing kicked off long after we came up with this idea, but it's funny people are associating it [Survival Mode] with battle royale," said FIFA 19 Creative Director Matt Prior to Eurogamer.

"I'm sure people won't believe me when I say this, but it genuinely had nothing to do with that! But it is funny how it's being seen as that!

"If you look back to FIFA Street in 2012 we had a survival mode in that - a little bit different, but a similar kind of concept. It is something we've thought of bringing to the main game for a while. People are generally loving it."

It will be interesting to see what reception Survival Mode gets in a post-PUBG and Fortnite world. And with FIFA 19 out for the PS4, Xbox One, PC, PS3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Switch next month, we won't have to wait too long to find out.

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