EA Sports FC 27 launched on 25 September, and the reviews describe two different games.
The scores
- Metacritic: 77 on PS5, from 37 reviews
- OpenCritic: 80, from 35 critics, with 77% recommending it
Metacritic also lists 75 on PC, but from only eight reviews — too thin to weigh against the PS5 figure.
The spread is the story
At the top, Destructoid gave it 90, saying it "rectifies many mistakes of the previous entries" and pushes the series back towards skill over automation. Others in the 80s include COGconnected at 85, The Games Machine at 8.6 and DualShockers at 8.5.
At the bottom, Radio Times gave it 20, arguing that "the era of great football games appears to be over" because of EA's emphasis on monetisation over meaningful change.
A 70-point gap between two reviews of the same football game is not a disagreement about passing mechanics. It is a disagreement about whether the annual model is worth reviewing on its own terms at all.
What reviewers agree on
The good: more manual control and less AI assistance, improved career mode transfers, and The Grounds — the new social hub — adding variety.
The bad: monetisation, raised again and again across the reviews. Some also flag technical issues, a graphics engine showing its age, and a learning curve that will not suit casual players. Reviewers have also pointed to pay-to-win elements within The Grounds itself, which is worth knowing given it is the marquee new feature.
The recurring verdict is "a slight improvement, not an evolution" — which is either fine or damning depending on whether you bought FC 26.
What it costs
- Standard Edition: $69.99, out now on PS5 and PS4
- Ultimate Edition: $99.99 — the seven-day early access started 18 September, so that window has passed
- Ultimate Plus: $149.99
With early access over, the premium editions are now purely about FC Points and premium passes — in other words, about the monetisation reviewers spent most of their word count on. Buy accordingly.
Our release-week guide covers the rest of the 21-27 September launches.
The short version
If you skipped FC 26, the consensus says this is a real step up and the most skill-led the series has felt in a while. If you own FC 26 and play mostly Ultimate Team, the reviews suggest you already know what you are buying.
Written 26 September 2026. Aggregate scores are at time of writing and will shift as more reviews land.
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