EA FC 25 devs finally end “shadow patch” rumors as players doubt gameplay

Some EA FC 25 players suspected that gameplay changed without an official confirmation, but the devs denied those rumors.

Title Update 8 went live on January 15 and drastically overhauled gameplay by buffing passing, nerfing AI defending, and reducing the chance of defenders to catch quick attackers. Fans crowned it the “best patch in FIFA history” because several highly requested issues were finally addressed.

That positive public sentiment didn’t last long, as some players claimed the changes were reverted in a secret update. On February 3, EA Stepped forward and responded to those accusations.

“As a reminder, we are not making any changes to the balance of the game in this update after seeing your recent feedback.” That reassurance wasn’t enough to remove clouds of doubt, forcing the devs to issue another statement on the matter.

EA FC 25 devs double down against “shadow patch” allegations

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“Over the past few weeks, we’ve continued to see speculation that gameplay changes made through the Gameplay Refresh Update have been reverted, changed, or shadow patched,” EA stated. “To reiterate what we said in the most recent Pitch Notes, this is not true.”

“Aside from the 2 minor issues from Title Update 9, which are listed in the Pitch Notes, there have been no title updates, Live Tuning (server-side) updates, or changes of any kind to gameplay.”

EA revealed what gameplay aspects the devs are monitoring moving forward and explained the process behind not making any significant gameplay changes since Title Update 8 went live.

“We saw the positive reception to the Gameplay Refresh Update across the community and we made a conscious decision to not make impactful changes to gameplay for the time being, while continuing to monitor community feedback and internal metrics like goals, shots and passing accuracy per game,” EA said.

Players don’t have to worry about changes happening without knowing, as EA assured that all updates will be fully revealed on the game’s Trello board.

For more, check out everything we know about the Fantasy FC promo.