Take a deep dive into the FIFA 18 on Switch controversy

It’s not quite the same

EA is very careful with its wording — I mean, at this point, the publisher has enough experience with courting and engaging disaster — which is why it calls FIFA 18 on Switch a “custom” edition of the game. For the longest time a lot of people had no idea what that meant, but after its release, come to find out “custom” actually means “stripped of many modes so that it actually runs on the device.”

Now those concessions don’t come with bonuses. It is indeed a “custom” version that touts portability, but as DigitalFoundry points out, it’s more inline with the last-generation versions, a practice that EA still does to this day with PS3 and Xbox 360 releases.

Based on the facts the FIFA 18 on Switch is almost like a “meet me halfway” port, where it’s a little more involved than the PS3/360 ports but not quite up to snuff with Xbox One or PS4. It’s weird because this whole debate has sparked controversy over whether or not the Switch is a current generation system (why is this a thing, it is!) — but the real interesting thing is that developers still haven’t figured out how to program for it given its docked and undocked status, both of which allow different configurations.