When you’re on the pitch in FC 26, struggling against the impenetrable defense of a computer-controlled team, you might not be facing a fair opponent, but rather an invisible referee meticulously programmed to control your gaming experience.
This is precisely the focus of current debate in the gaming community: the widespread frustration caused by mechanisms like AI Defending and Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment.
Stepping outside the realm of gaming, AI in the real world often automates tedious tasks, improves efficiency, and frees up human hands, making life easier.
However, when this technology is introduced into FIFA 26, we find that its goal is sometimes not to make our experience smoother, but rather to cleverly create obstacles and frustration for players.
This raises an unavoidable question: why does AI, in practice, go against its original intentions? IGGM.com will analyze this issue for you.
Conflict Between Goals And Design
Squad Battles mode in FUT 26’s Ultimate Team mode has never been as competitive as its online modes, such as Rivals.
However, recent improvements to AI Defending and Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment are significantly changing the player experience.
The original intention was to allow players to enjoy and reward themselves against AI-controlled real-person teams. Players could choose from seven difficulty levels, from Beginner to Ultimate, giving them control over the challenge.
However, numerous player feedback points out that the differences between the difficulty options are too large, especially between Professional and World Class difficulties.
There is a highly unreasonable difficulty gap; the former is manageable, while the latter is extremely difficult, resulting in a noticeable unnatural manipulation of the system.
Furthermore, a deeper problem exists: AI’s behavior logic has become distorted at higher difficulties. In Squad Battles mode, the ideal goal for players is to win every match 5-0 to obtain the highest score reward and FC 26 coins.
However, its core purpose now seems to have shifted from simulating a realistic football match to a clear system objective: to prevent the player from achieving a 5-0 victory at all costs.
This means that the player is no longer facing a winning team, but a sophisticated system tasked with disrupting their perfect gaming experience.
Unfair Gameplay
This design directly leads to a distorted gaming experience. To maximize points, players must win 5-0; but to balance the experience, the system uses AI to prevent this goal. Thus, a football game degenerates into a tedious game between the players and the system’s rules.
In World Class or Ultimate difficulty, players will witness opposing teams endlessly stopping in their own half shortly after the start of the game, refusing to attack even when trailing, which will make your situation even more difficult, and the chances of getting coins as rewards are lower.
Because those teams only pass the ball around in their back line even when they are behind, it makes it impossible for players to find a breakthrough point.
This behavior, which violates the common sense of competitive sports, is purely designed to waste the player’s precious game time and infuriate them. Some players argue that when a game’s design seems geared towards infuriating players rather than providing a challenging experience, what is its purpose?
To win under these distorted rules, players are forced to abandon the pursuit of football tactics and creative play, instead focusing on a utilitarian strategy designed to counter AI.
Players’ scoring methods are often limited to a few patterns, such as exploiting corner kick loopholes or catching the goalkeeper rushing out. Victory can only be achieved through these methods, leaving almost no room for variation or creativity.
At the same time, more players will seek to buy safe FC 26 coins at IGGM.com, which is a reliable sellers, to improve their team’s overall strength and gain more advantages in matches. With current AI systems somewhat restricting players’ tactical development, the fun of the game has shifted from how to play beautiful football to how players can crack the system’s code.
Technological Dilemma
This phenomenon goes far beyond game balance; it reflects a more widespread technological dilemma. More difficult AI means players are forced to adopt an extremely cautious playstyle that emphasizes exploiting AI mistakes rather than encouraging players to create their own opportunities.
However, if players have to react to AI’s mistakes in order to score, it’s like completely depriving players of their initiative. The original intention of artificial intelligence was to use it as a tool to expand human capabilities, but in Squad Battles mode, AI plays the role of a controller and suppressor.
Its intelligence isn’t used to create a richer, more realistic experience, but rather to analyze player behavior and, through Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment, ensure the player remains on a pre-set emotional curve.
This design transforms AI technology from a servant into a butler of control. It not only creates obstacles in the game but also subtly deprives players of the sense of accomplishment and autonomy gained through pure tactical thinking.
When AI in the game is no longer a respectable opponent but an obstacle created solely to hinder, it no longer brings the joy of challenge but the fatigue of being manipulated.
Players’ complaints about Squad Battles are not merely criticisms of a game mode’s balance, but a collective questioning of the value of AI technology.
On the virtual football field, this battle over AI may offer a more thought-provoking lesson on how to shape artificial intelligence in the real world.
