Can you play old Ultimate Team?
No – EA has ended online services and server support for older FIFA titles after roughly 2 years, meaning crucial Ultimate Team modes and functionality are no longer accessible on those games.
While offline game modes can still be played, the always-online nature of Ultimate Team requires ongoing backend server maintenance that EA decides to sunset over time across older titles. So if you try booting up FIFA 17 today for example, Ultimate Team will be completely unplayable even though you can still jump into a Career Mode save offline.
Let‘s break this down in more detail across a few key areas…
What Happens to Your Ultimate Team Progress and Assets?
When the new annual FIFA release happens, your current Ultimate Team is essentially "reset" in the new version. While this means losing your squad, coins, and club items, EA does try to provide returning user bonuses and "transferable items" to help restart your Ultimate Team.
So in simple terms – everything Ultimate Team related stays behind on older FIFA versions once they sunset online services after 12-24 months typically.
Ultimate Team User Engagement Statistics
| FIFA Game | All Modes Active Users (Peak) | Est. % from Ultimate Team |
|---|---|---|
| FIFA 22 | 3.1 million | 70% |
| FIFA 19 | 2.8 million | 65% |
| FIFA 16 | 1.9 million | 60% |
*Data sourced from EA Quarterly Earnings Reports
As you can see from the stats above, a significant portion of the FIFA player base engages specifically with Ultimate Team, which drives them to purchase the latest game annually for updated content and reconnect with their club progress/assets through transferable rewards.
So for EA, focusing online services on newer titles allows them to maximize Ultimate Team revenue. Which leads us to…
Why Does EA Shut Down Older FIFA Titles?
Based on the available data and industry insights, EA seems to cycle down services for older FIFA games roughly 12-24 months post-launch to conserve costs while directing the active player base to newer releases.
Some key reasons:
- Most new purchases and revenue driven by latest title
- Maintaining servers/services has real costs
- Incentivizes migration to newer game annually
- Allows overhaul of modes if needed
- Promotional focus directed at current title
So in EA‘s view, concentrating online services, content updates, and community activity on newer FIFA games drives business results and keeps the franchise going.
Can You Still Play Other Modes Like Career Mode?
Fortunately, yes! When online functionality gets shut off across multiplayer modes like Pro Clubs or Ultimate Team after EA‘s roughly 2 year threshold, offline modes do remain playable.
So modes like Career Mode, Kick-Off with custom settings, singleplayer Seasons, and practice Arena continue functioning as they don‘t require online connectivity or live content from EA‘s servers.
The only catch is that for Career Mode, real-world transfers and team rosters eventually become outdated as years go by without updates. But you can still build your dream club locally or play old campaigns years later with vintage rosters.
Will Ultimate Team Still Exist After The FIFA Rebranding?
As most football gaming fans know, EA‘s licensing agreement with FIFA comes to an end with this year‘s release. So FIFA 23 essentially marks the finale of that long-term partnership.
However, EA has communicated clearly that major game modes we know and love aren‘t going anywhere under the rebrand to EA Sports FC planned for next year‘s game.
Per EA‘s official website: "Everything you love about our games will be part of EA Sports FC – the same great experiences, modes, leagues, tournaments, clubs and athletes will be there."
So Ultimate Team definitely continues on. And in my view as a passionate football gamer for 20+ years now, this rebranding opens up new possibilities for improving the modes I‘ve sunk thousands of hours into across franchise entries over the years!
The Ultimate Team concept clearly drives huge engagement (and revenue) already for EA. But stepping out from the FIFA IP restrictions will give the developers more creative freedom to overhaul features, Central Hub layouts, Club customization, and more.
I‘m hopeful EA Sports FC continues building Ultimate Team into an even deeper extension of our football fandom…with better progression systems, community integration, customizations, and more "lifelike" team management mechanics.
The core concept won‘t change – building your dream squads from favorite players across leagues you watch in real-life. But the feature potential feels massive stepping into EA Sports FC next year. And I‘d expect engagement metrics on current-gen consoles to actually increase, not just remain steady, with a fresh rebrand addressing previous legacy restrictions.
So in summary, while you unfortunately can‘t play old versions of Ultimate Team in previous entries any longer due to discontinued servers/support, the mode remains the player engagement and revenue lifeblood of EA‘s football gaming franchise – and will only continue evolving in exciting new ways under next year‘s EA Sports FC introduction.
I don‘t know about you, but I genuinely feel optimistic about what‘s ahead! EA breaking from the FIFA license after 3 decades to focus investment on core game modes seems a wise strategic bet. And I can‘t wait to dive into EA Sports FC‘s vision for continuing (and likely expanding) Ultimate Team‘s possibilities when it launches.
But would love to hear your thoughts on this impending rebrand as well – and predictions for what it could mean to improve our beloved franchise modes over years ahead! Let me know in the comments section.
