MMOEXP: FC 25 is a game that most fans of the franchise will already be familiar with
While extremely well known, haven't truly innovated on their formula for a decade or longer. Not all annual sports series are completely unoriginal, but the usual suspects, FC 25 Coins, Madden, NBA 2K, and WWE are all generally considered to be lazy cash-grabs. It's time for the sports video game industry to look to other titles for inspiration, and Mortal Kombat, surprisingly, has plenty of lessons to teach.
Sports games should stop releasing on an annual basis. This isn't a revolutionary statement, as every year the same discussion takes place, with critics and gamers coming together to debate whether a new FC or Madden is needed or even wanted. But despite the general consensus being that a new game isn't needed this year, many still go out and buy it, even despite spending months telling everyone around them that this is the year they give it up. As a result, all publishers see is the revenue that the game brought it that year. With microtransactions making up a good bulk of the experience, the companies continue to profit from the game for 12 months until the cycle starts once again.
Video game publishers won't stop releasing their sports games annually so long as fans continue to drop the cash every year. But just because the game sells well doesn't mean it's received well, either by fans or by critics. It's widely considered that the mid-late 2000s was the pinnacle of annual sports games. Titles like FC 25 and Madden NFL 2004 are still hailed by fans as the best entries in their respective franchises, even over a decade later.
These titles innovated on their predecessors, and introduced new features that genuinely impacted the experience for the better. Since then, it's felt like these franchises are just pumping out the same experiences every year. The marketing for annual sports games pretends that the upcoming title is completely changing the series, when in reality just a few more cheap EAFC 25 Coins players or animations are being added to what is essentially the same game, but re-skinned.