Many of these ideas have been proposed before to change the real game, and it’s fascinating to see them implemented in a practical way here. The thing is, it was more like life imitating art:
“We actually started developing Rush before these real-world rule changes were even proposed,” says Breno. “We even joked that people might think we were inspired by this real-world experiment with the orange card, when in fact we had introduced the blue card long before the idea. Each rule change had specific design reasons.
“For example, the blue card is a replacement for the red card, as taking a player out for the entire game would be too disruptive and harsh on teammates. So we introduced a temporary time-out, similar to what you see in other sports, to keep things balanced and exciting. When it comes to penalties, we wanted to get everyone involved. Opponents have the opportunity to intervene and teammates can get involved in the scoring opportunity if they want. Our goal was to create an approach to penalties that involves more than just the two parties traditionally involved. So yes, we are open to exploring and testing any rules that improve the experience, as long as it means we don’t stray too far from the essence of real football.”
But the inspiration didn’t just come from football itself. In multiplayer, there’s a ping system that allows players to signal their teammates where they want to move – something inspired by non-sports games. “We’re always looking for inspiration that goes beyond the sports genre,” says Danillo. “Innovation starts with research, and that’s exactly what we did. We took inspiration from our experience with other EA games, like Apex Legends to create a ping system that was just right for Rush. Because Rush is so fast-paced and things can change in a heartbeat, the ping system needed to be faster and simpler than what you find in other games.”
However, Rush is not just a socially focused mode – it has been integrated into the experience FC25. You can play it in regular Kick-Off mode, of course, but it’s also available as a Clubs mode, an Ultimate Team variant and, perhaps most interestingly, even integrated into Career mode. In Career mode, your youth team was usually presented as a simple menu of young players – but this year’s game lets you compete in Rush matches with your potential stars of the future.
