FIFA 21 won’t include VAR and makes big celebration changes

❘ Updated: 2020-08-03T20:21:37

EA Sports

Producers from EA Sports have come out and explained why FIFA 21 won’t include VAR, and why celebrations are being overhauled for the new title.

As usually happens around this time each year with the next FIFA title officially announced, players and fans have begun to look forward to the changes coming in the next installment.

According to Inverse.com Sam Rivera, lead gameplay producer at EA, said devs won’t be adding the controversial VAR system to FIFA 21, and has explained a bit why post-goal celebrations will work differently in the new title.

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Adding VAR to a FIFA game seems to most fans like a bit of an oxymoron, since, as it’s a video game, it does a pretty decent job of calling offsides with the systems already in place.

As any FIFA player will tell you, the game’s officiating crew probably doesn’t need any additional help from VAR.

“We know that VAR is very popular right now in football,” Rivera admitted. “Anyway, this year we decided to focus on other features that the community was requesting. We think that VAR, in terms of a video game, may not be adding as much as we wished.”

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No VAR in 21 is cause for celebration for some players, but EA has updates in store for those as well, by removing two popular post-goal player reactions, and a reduction in the amount of time post-goal festivities will take up. The celebrations that are being removed are “Shh” where the player puts his finger over his lips in the shushing motion and the “A-OK” reaction.

“What really matters is we reduced the time that you have to celebrate,” he said. “We removed the ‘walk-back’; so after you score a goal, there was a celebration, then a replay, then you saw the player move back to the kick-off spot.”

FIFA 21 won’t give you as much time to rub that last goal in your opponent’s face as before.

In addition to reducing the time for kickoffs, devs are also cutting down on how long it takes to set up for free-kicks, corners, and throw-ins in an effort to speed the pace of play up a bit.

“We are really focusing on making sure the flow of the game is short and then just to the point: playing the game,” he finished.

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If you want to stay up to date on all the latest updates, and changes coming to FIFA 21, be sure to give us a follow on Twitter @UltimateTeamUK for all the news as it happens for the upcoming installment.