The FIFA gaming series is once again facing heavy difficulties in regards to its server issues. For years, this has been an ongoing curse for its largely growing player base, who are now fed up with having to play under inhumane circumstances.

Why is it an issue?

Heavily impacting its gameplay, server issues can cause a lot of trouble in online gaming. As players often only have a millisecond to react to a new game situation, these problems are bound to be the cause of mayhem and frustration.In regards to FIFA, the server-related problems are often deciding the matches the players are in, having to fight not only against their opponent but also the very game itself.

Server issues affect the game in different ways. For instance, players are facing button delays or even a frozen image. These effects are caused through the failure of establishing a stable connectivity between servers and the initial console. The initial cause of these connection errors is largely “unknown;” however, certain sources claim that the issues are due to the fact that when logging into EA, players might be allocated to the wrong servers.

A good example would be the fact that a player from the United Kingdom is – instead of being logged on into the European servers – connected to the servers from the United States. The given player is then mostly connected to a player from his or her current location (United Kingdom). As the individual servers are then too far off. players are incapable of enjoying the gameplay without problems.

Gamers playing FIFA 19 | Marco Verch/Flickr

The same mistakes as every year

As server issues are a continuous problem, the player base of FIFA is largely unsatisfied. Having to spend €60-90 alone for the game itself, and often spending extra money on online modes such as FIFA Ultimate Team, a common belief is that EA should use a fraction of its money to take care of its lack in quality regarding the servers.

For years now, server problems have been identified by the players, but EA Sports keeps silent, although the multi-billion-dollar company has promised its fans more transparency with the release of FIFA 19. Such behavior from parts of EA has caused an uproar against the company. Being voiced by YouTubers and pro players, the community released their anger in the hashtag “EAids,” in which players took their freedom of voice onto social media in order to massively criticize the company.

Even this year, famous YouTubers such as MattHDGamer or Nepenthez are using their influence onto the community to show EA its shortcomings. In the video “EA… Please listen…” MattHDGamer addressed the intense server difficulties in a 13-minute-long video. In this video, the YouTuber has criticized the inconsistency of the servers to establish a stable gameplay connection. Due to the gameplay being inconsistent, FIFA players have to adapt their style of playing to the gameplay, making it merely impossible to play on the highest level possible.

Will it change?

Whether EA Sports will listen to its player base, fixing the servers and taking care of many other issues, is highly questionable – as the only consistent aspect of the servers is the fact that they haven’t been fixed in years. As EA Sports continues to mount a high level of revenue, the company probably sees no point in resolving the problem, leaving its community in anger and despair.