FIFA 18 for Nintendo Switch: EA confirms Ultimate Team, Joy-Con controls

FIFA is coming back to Nintendo’s platform, and publisher Electronic Arts confirmed onstage today during its Hollywood fan event that this offshoot of its flagship soccer series is getting one of its most popular features.

Ultimate Team will be among the modes available for FIFA 18 on the Nintendo Switch when it launches September 29. EA announced the news in advance of next week’s Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show.

This is the EA Vancouver and EA Romania development studios’ take on building a fantasy team in the soccer sim, and it’s one of the most popular features in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions. Bringing it over to FIFA’s first appearance on a Nintendo console since FIFA 15 shows EA could be looking more seriously at the Switch than it did at the failed Wii U, which it abandoned. And since FIFA 17 was the best-selling console game in the world last year, opening it to a new (even smaller) audience could have a positive effect on EA’s bottom line.

EA also will offer ways to play with every control scheme for the Switch: a single Joy-Con controller, two Joy-Cons docked on the Switch, or the Pro Controller. The game works when Nintendo’s new hybrid console sits in its TV dock, when you use it as a handheld, or when in the tabletop mode (where the Switch sits on a flat surface with its kickstand out).

Other features include the standard Career Mode, Kick Off, Local Seasons (which you can play across two Switch systems), Online and Offline Seasons, the Women’s International Cup, and more.

“FIFA 18 on Nintendo Switch is the best FIFA you can take with you anywhere, play anytime and with anyone,” said producer Andrei Lăzărescu. “We’re delivering the immersive and authentic experience that fans expect from FIFA while leveraging innovative ways to play both at home and on the go with Nintendo Switch.”