Pro Clubs, by design, is FIFA with friends.
The most social game mode in the soccer sim, it lets players control one position on the pitch and play casual or competitively together. With EA Sports announcing crossplay, the loyal Pro Clubs community hoped that those with different consoles would finally be able to link up online. Sadly, that’s not here just yet, but we do have news ahead of FIFA 23’s September 30 release.
You can watch the FIFA 23 Pro Clubs deep dive on YouTube now.
Are the announcements made today enough to make it up to them, whilst EA work on developing 11v11? Let’s find out.
Play your way to grow your pro
Taking the headlines, Pro Clubs and VOLTA FOOTBALL progression is now combined. VOLTA is the pick-up-and-play, launched in FIFA 20. A take on street football (RIP FIFA Street) where small-sided games and skills reign, with thousands of unlockable cosmetics available.
Now, wherever you play, your two avatars earn the same progression items. You’ll earn VOLTA coins and XP/skill points across both modes, taking the grind out of either mode. Great when you fancy casual VOLTA Arcade games over focused soccer.
In FIFA 22, Pro Clubs fans played for hours without making a dent in their level. Thanks to community feedback, the player progression system has been increased to 100 levels, allowing players to level up sooner.
There’s a host of new perks to unlock including ‘poacher’, ‘interceptor’, ‘light passes’ and an exciting new signature ability called ‘take flight’. You’ll be high-jumping at corners like Cristiano Ronaldo in no time.
At the end of a match, you’ll now see an accolades screen showing the top performers from your game, such as most distance covered and most tackles made. This is a great way of comparing yourself against the rest of your party without looking at the scoresheet.
Speaking of comparing performances, player ratings have had a refresh, and are now fairer on Pro Clubs players who play defensive roles and don’t score goals.
New, larger VOLTA stadium in rotation which has much bouncier walls and a bigger goal area. More space equals more time on the ball, and this will change the way VOLTA plays. Fans of the small, current arenas don’t fear – the new stadium will appear 50% of the time along with other arenas.
With every new game comes new cosmetics, and finally in FIFA 23, your Pro Clubs and VOLTA player can have tattoos! There are also loads of the latest soccer boots and facial accessories including the broken nose protector. Sadly, some of the sillier items won’t be usable in Pro Clubs. As ever, players can expect new content to be released in batches throughout the year.
Gameplay Updates but no 11v11 crossplay
The most intriguing update to Pro Clubs gameplay is the reported improvements to drop-ins, which will include shorter games and even golden goal situations. For the time-short or those wanting a warm-up, this is perfect.
HyperMotion2 will also bring more variation and realism to the skill-based modes, with tighter control and improved physics. Setting your avatar in either mode as left-footed, they will finally do skill moves off their left foot!
EA Sports’ announced women’s football superstar Sam Kerr on the cover of FIFA 23, and whilst Pro Clubs and VOLTA have been progressive with their female avatars for a number of installments, the animations thanks to HyperMotion2 will be more true to life.
Of course, whilst gameplay updates to Pro Clubs will surely reinvigorate the game mode for FIFA 23 players, nothing will satisfy the community like 11v11 crossplay across all consoles.
In their crossplay pitch notes, EA Sports state “because of the technical intricacies of implementing cross-play, modes that pair players together such as Pro Clubs will not feature cross-play at this time.”
Whilst the online campaign to #SaveProClubs wages on, Pro Clubs and VOLTA FOOTBALL have
FIFA 23 launches on Sept. 30, 2022, and is available to preorder now.
Written by Alex Bugg on behalf of GLHF.
