Anyone who lives and breathes Career Mode just had their world shaken. In one of the wildest weeks for FC players in recent memory, EA Sports just shadow-dropped two massive bombshells.
First, the long-overdue FC 26 Career Mode update is live, and it completely changes the AI. Second, and far more massive, the rumored FC 26 Open World mode is not just real—it’s already in active playtesting.
After going through the first reports and watching some gameplay, it feels like we’re getting a mix of dream come true and be careful what you wish for.
Let’s talk about what that actually means for our save files—and where the franchise might be headed next.
The FC 26 Career Mode Update: The AI is Now a Monster
We’ve all screamed at the screen. For years, we’ve been stuck playing against a robotic, predictable, and static AI. We all know the exploits: the CPU defender who just stands there, the repetitive dribble sequences, the way winning on Legendary just becomes muscle memory.
Well, EA claims this new patch was “driven by the community feedback” and directly overhauls the CPU’s brain.
What EA Promised:
- Smarter CPU: The AI is supposed to read the game better, make faster and smarter passing decisions, and react to pressure intelligently.
- Better Movement: Dribbling is supposedly improved with sharper turns and less idle movement.
- Tighter Defense: Defensive awareness is enhanced, with the AI switching players quicker to track runs.
This all sounds like a dream, right? A real challenge, at last!
What We Actually Got:
The early gameplay footage is terrifying. The AI is now on steroids.
Players are showing off matches on World Class—a difficulty most of us breeze through—and the AI is playing like “2015 prime Barcelona”. The game speed is “ridiculous,” the one-touch passing is relentless, and the CPU has suddenly become a tactical genius that can “pass the ball” in ways “never seen… not even at the ultimate difficulty”.
This is the classic EA overcorrection. The problem isn’t just that the AI is harder; it’s that it seems to be unrealistically hard, even best players sneak attack evo upgrades more, breaking the one thing Career Mode players care about: immersion.
The biggest “slight concern” being shared is that every team is this good. One player showed a Youth Academy game against Burnley where they “got absolutely destroyed” by a team that was “acting like first-teamers”.
That’s not a challenge—that’s a broken patch. What’s the point of a realistic Career Mode when a 3-star team full of 60-rated players is suddenly stringing together 30-pass tiki-taka goals?
It’s great that EA is finally paying attention to the offline community, but it feels like they’ve just cranked every dial up to eleven. So buckle up—you’ll probably spend your first hour buried in the slider menu, because this new FC 26 Career Mode update has turned every League Two squad into a prime Pep Guardiola’s side.
The Bombshell: An FC 26 Open World Mode is Coming
Forget the AI headaches for a second. This is the real news.
EA has officially confirmed they are in the play-testing phase for a brand new FC 26 Open World mode.
This isn’t just a new menu or a re-skin of VOLTA. This is a complete paradigm shift. According to all the reports, this new mode is heavily inspired by the NBA neighborhood mode.
Picture this: you create your player, and instead of mindlessly clicking through menus, you’re actually exploring a massive social hub. You’re chatting with other players, showing off your custom gear, and diving into different kinds of matches scattered all over the world. It feels like the next step in what The Journey began—only this time, it’s online, alive, and built to last.
First, the obvious catch: microtransactions. The NBA neighborhood is a notorious cash cow for 2K. This FC 26 Open World is 100% being built to make even more money. Get ready for an endless stream of branded skins, cosmetic items, custom apartments, and unique celebrations, all for a “small” fee. The hope is that we can still get some nice rewards and stuff for free, but we all know how this usually goes.
Second, there’s one massive, six-foot-six reason this is happening now: GTA 6.
EA isn’t dumb. They know that when GTA 6 drops, 90% of players will be going over to that game. They need a game-breaking feature to compete, something to keep players logging into their world instead of Rockstar’s. This is a desperate, ambitious, and necessary survival move.
And don’t get too excited. This isn’t coming next month. The planned release is for “FC27 and FC28”. This is a long-term project.
It’s a massive week. We have an immediate, brutal new challenge (or headache) waiting for us in the FC 26 Career Mode update, and a massive, ambitious new world on the horizon.
Let’s just hope that FC 26 Open World becomes the game-changing mode we’ve dreamed of, and not just another flashy storefront.