FIFA 22 Hypermotion feature explained: improved AI, new “organic” animations

Bill Cooney

We’ve had a massive wave of FIFA 22 info arrive along with the official gameplay trailer on July 11, and here we’ll cover everything there is to know about the new Hypermotion tech.

The amount of new FIFA 22 leaks and info coming out just seems to increase everyday we draw closer to the game’s release. Along with the official trailer reveal in July, EA dropped a massive amount of info on their new Hypermotion motion capture tech, that promises to create “new animations in real time.”

It was one of the biggest mysteries surrounding FIFA 22 after the cover reveal and before the trailer dropped, so let’s take a look at what makes it tick.

FIFA 22 Hypermotion Technology explained

fifa 22 mbappe cover
Mbappe will once again adorn the FIFA cover, along with a brand-new Hypermotion logo.

The July gameplay trailer was all about Hypermotion, you could even argue that the new tech is actually FIFA 22’s cover star this year, instead of Mbappe.

Basically, EA dressed two teams of pro footballers in what are called “Xsens suits,” which are those black coveralls and accessories the stars are wearing in the trailer. These enable motion capture from 22 professional footballers (two teams of 11) playing a match at high-intensity for the first time, according to EA.

So, now that developers have a bunch of mo cap footage of pros playing, what do they do with it? Feed it into a “cutting-edge proprietary machine learning algorithm,” of course.

What this means in plain English is that FIFA 22 will apparently be able to come up with brand-new animations on the fly to create “organic football realism.”

That’s not all though, there’s also a “deeper, more tactical AI” being teased, improved controls for ball handling and control, striking, air battles, headers, and even improvements to ambient player behavior.

The improved AI was mentioned in the same line as “next-gen consoles” though, so whether or not players still on PS4 and Xbox One will have access remains to be seen. We’ll update this piece as soon as we have more info.

About The Author

Bill is a former writer at Dexerto based in Iowa, who covered esports, gaming and online entertainment for more than two years. With the US team, Bill covered Overwatch, CSGO, Influencer culture, and everything in between.