EA FC 27: The Grounds Brings Culture to Clubs
EA FC 27: The Grounds Brings Culture to Clubs
Complex UK spent time on site at EA Vancouver to play EA SPORTS FC 27's The Grounds and to sit down with Line Producer Karthik Venkatesan and Game Design Director Jean-François Guastalla. Their message is clear: the open-world social hub is built around Pro Clubs players, not as a side attraction.
Speaking to Jude Yawson, Karthik Venkatesan said the design team kept hearing the same request from the clubs community over several years: more ways to play 1v1, 2v2 and club friendlies together, without external workarounds. 'We see them play 1v1, 2v2, and have a blast just doing that.
To us, it's always been about how we give them a more real way of doing that, without all the hoops and custom workarounds,' Venkatesan explained. Three districts, picked with COPA90 The Grounds opens from a central hub called The Terrace and branches into three districts: Parkside (England), Montclair (France) and Zeiza (Argentina).
Game Design Director Jean-François Guastalla said EA deliberately chose them with cultural agency COPA90 for visual and sonic contrast rather than to represent every region. 'The most important thing for us was creating contrast between them: global football culture looks different, feels different and sounds different in different places, and those three regions do that well,' he told Complex UK.
The pair confirmed that future expansions will track the football calendar, with the 2030 Spain, Portugal and Morocco World Cup likely to shape which regions are added next. Team-of-the-Year-style live events will let other countries appear inside The Grounds throughout the year even before permanent districts are added.
Why the mentors matter Mentors in The Grounds include Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham, Chloe Kelly and Paulo Dybala, with Ted Lasso and A.F.C. Richmond also returning.
Venkatesan said the choices were driven by how openly those players talk about their childhood neighbourhoods. 'The streets-to-stadium fantasy is universal, even at the highest professional level.
They're not talking about training gyms with private coaches, they're talking about cages in Paris, or Chloe Kelly talking about her siblings,' he said. What this means for Pro Clubs Clubs mode is reached through The Grounds in FC 27, available only on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch 2.
Inside The Terrace and the three districts, Pro Clubs teams now share a 100-player social hub that includes 5v5 Rush, Kickabouts, Bucket Ball and Balloon Ball alongside regular 11v11 matches. Archetypes, Masteries, Amps and Clubs Live Tournaments with rotating House Rules (Mystery Ball, King of the Hill, No Rules, Headers and Volleys, Survival, Long Range) all carry over from the 13 September FPCHK Clubs Guide.
Cross-play remains active across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Switch 2, and PS4 / Xbox One / original Switch players will not be able to access The Grounds or the reworked Clubs mode without upgrading hardware.
Source
Complex UK (Jude Yawson)