Hello all.

My name is Joel Doonan, and I am the lead Producer for the Player First Operations team, part of the FIFA Live team.

In this Pitch Notes, we wanted to provide an update on the FIFA Development team’s ongoing efforts focused on online gameplay responsiveness.

This update is focused on our FIFA Game Data Centers (FGDC), which are used for the majority of online modes in FIFA 22. For those not familiar with what a FGDC is, here is a brief summary from our FGDC FAQ:

WHAT ARE GAME DATA CENTERS?
In this case, a game data center refers to a physical location with hardware and software systems designed to operate FIFA 22 online gameplay.

You may also hear these being referred to as “servers” by other players, but game data centers are their technical name.

If you want to learn more about FGDCs, you can check out the full FAQ here. 

With that out of the way, let’s get at it!

TL;DR

• We will be running a variety of tests over the coming weeks that will involve adding multiple proof of concept FIFA Game Data Centers (FGDC) while also adjusting some of our existing FGDCs.
• During this test we are aiming for a similar or improved online gameplay responsiveness experience for players.
• Further communication via @EAFIFADirect on Twitter or via the Pitch Notes to come as we complete these tests. 
• A reminder that we have a number of tools available to players related to online gameplay responsiveness and their Connection Quality:
  
  • The EA Connection Quality Report
  • Connection Monitoring tools in-game
  • The Input Overlay in-game
  • Report Match For Connection Quality in-game

FGDC Testing

Some time back, we released a Pitch Notes that detailed how we evaluate adding potential new FGDCs, and that we are always monitoring our current FGDCs and looking for ways to improve our FGDC network.

One of the phases we detailed in that article was the proof of concept phase. During that phase we would normally soft-launch a potential new FGDC location in order to monitor its performance and stability before making a final decision on whether to officially add that FGDC to our network or not. Over the past number of years, we have gone through that process many times, which led to the addition of FGDCs such as Miami and Buenos Aires. 

Normally this process has been focused on a single potential FGDC location, but over the next number of weeks we are going to be testing numerous potential locations as we look to further optimize and improve our FGDC network.

The unique nature of this series of tests means that we are not only going to be evaluating numerous potential FGDC locations, but in order to properly measure their impact on the FGDC network, certain existing FGDC locations may also no longer be used for matches, or may have their capacity scaled down during this testing period. Important to note, many of the potential FGDC locations that we are evaluating during these tests are in similar locations to some of the existing FGDC locations listed below, in some cases even in the same city.

The existing FGDC locations being adjusted during these tests are:

• Amsterdam
• London
• Stockholm
• Frankfurt
• Madrid
• São Paulo
• Ohio
• Washington DC

While we don’t normally announce when a potential new FGDC location is soft-launching and entering the proof of concept stage, given that this test may require adjustments to previously announced FGDCs, we wanted to ensure that the community was aware of this test.

As is normal during this proof of concept phase, none of the soft-launched FGDC locations should be considered officially live. As is standard, when a FGDC is to be considered live, we will announce it via our official channels.

Our aim during this test is for players to either have a similar or improved online gameplay responsiveness experience during this test. This will be a key evaluation point when we review the player data and measurements from this test.

We intend to provide further updates on the outcome of these tests, including the addition of any potential new official FGDC locations, if and when we are able to do so. If the scope of the tests changes, causing additional existing FGDCs to be adjusted, we would aim to share that as well.

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That covers this update. As always, this topic remains a key priority for the FIFA Development team and we will aim to provide updates when able.

Thanks to the player community for their continued feedback and passion for the game.

Joel Doonan and the FIFA Live Team

FIFA 22 is now available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Stadia.

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