EA Sports FC 24 is using artificial intelligence to revolutionise football video gaming.
Makers Electronic Arts are using the clever robot tech to enhance this year’s PS5 and Xbox soccer game, the first without the Fifa name in decades.
Gone are the motion capture suits strapped to players from lower divisions to sample movement and gameplay for the computer.
In comes Volumetric video capture technologies and an AI mimic tech that can create hyper-realistic animations of the best stars in the world.
And they’re even using AI machine learning algorithms to improve players’ hands in the popular sim.
The experts at EA now use real-life gameplay from crunch games from the likes of Man City and Arsenal and digitally flow it straight into the FC 24 Frostbite game engine.
Aces like Erling Haarland and Bukayo Saka are caught direct, rather than using Spanish third division volunteers in bulky mo-cap suits.
It means the game replicates real football without restriction from some of the best players out there.
And they’re starting to incorporate fledgling AI tech to even make the ball bounce more realistically, rather than the traditional job of a human animator trying to make it work.
Sam Rivera, senior producer on EA Sport FC 24, told a producer showcase on the new game: “This is the culmination of multiple years of research and development to bring the real world of football into the world’s game.
“We can directly, from video, create animation for our game without the need for mo-cap suits.
“The restriction of having to work in the suits is gone.
“It creates a deeper connection to football because we can put the motion from real football in our game.”
He added: “There is an algorithm learning how the ball behaves in real life, it’s creating the whole motion for our game.
“This results in the most realistic ball bounces, ball movement.
“In the past, either a producer or animator would tune the parameters, the variables, to try to replicate how the ball moves.
“Now it’s all automated, which creates more realistic ball movement.”
He also revealed: “We have AI hands.
“So we have a new technology called Stretch Sense which is a glove that you have that is capturing the motion of the hands in real life.
“And then an algorithm applies that, creating more organic hand and wrist motion.”
The result, makers believe, is the most realistic football game ever.
Last week it was revealed gamers will be able to cross-play EA Sports FC 24 with each other across all PCs, Xbox Series X and PS5s across all major game modes as the developers push hard on interconnectivity no matter your machine of choice.
Even old-school players won’t have to stick to their console of choice, with PS4 and Xbox One gamers able to battle it out with each other on the electronic footie pitch.
The game was unveiled at a big-budget event in Amsterdam in front of an invited audience, including a few famous football faces like Didier Drogba, Alex Scott and Luis Figo.
It is the successor to the decades-old Fifa franchise as the game firm parts ways with the soccer body.
EA has taken huge amounts of data from more than 180 professional men’s and women’s football matches this year to reflect real-world movement in-game more than ever before.
And while Fifa might not be backing this title, plenty of other big-name footballing outfits are.
EA has signed an exclusive deal with the Premier League to “authentically represent” every athlete, club, and stadium in the league in the game.
They’ve also tied up with UEFA to showcase the Champions League and Spain’s LaLiga and the German Bundesliga to include their contests.
Plus we’ve got far more of the women’s game this year.
Women’s football will feature in fan favourite online mode Ultimate Team for the first time and you’ll be able to mix your teams up with men and women.
Andrea Hopelain, of EA Sports, said: “Celebrating sport for all is what continues to drive and inspire us.
“That’s why we’re proud to announce the most inclusive and diverse iteration of the game so far.”
The game will be available to play on September 29.
