Pitch Notes - Division Rivals Player Distribution Changes

Division Rivals overview

When we launched FIFA 19 we were excited to bring about a fundamental change to the way our FUT core online game modes function. Division Rivals introduced a brand new way to play online and qualify for the Weekend League. With the skill based ELO system at its core, represented by your Skill Rating, you match up against players of a similar Skill Rating to play against throughout the week, as you compete for weekly rewards.

Since the launch of FIFA 19, we’ve been blown away by the popularity of Division Rivals, which has quickly become the most popular mode within FUT, with over 1 Billion matches played in Rivals alone. Although we have seen great engagement with Division Rivals, we are consistently monitoring the mode and looking for opportunities to improve the overall experience. We previously made a series of adjustments to some of the player rewards across various Divisions. Today I wanted to provide you with some additional context to some new changes we are making to Division Rivals.

What is changing?

On March 27th when the weekly competition ends and the next event starts, we will be adjusting the Skill Rating requirements of various Divisions, meaning that some players will be promoted to a new Division as a result of the changes.

Players in Divisions 7-10 will experience no changes in the Skill Rating requirements for their Division. For players in Division 1-6, the Skill Rating requirements for promotion will be lowered. If your current Skill Rating would now qualify for a higher Division than you were previously in, you will be promoted as a result of these changes and start this competition in that new Division. No players will be demoted from their current Division as a result of these changes.

Why are we making this change?

When looking at the data regarding the number of players currently within each Division we can see that there is a high percentage of players clustered together in Divisions 4-7.

Percent of Rivals Players by Division - Week of Mar 7 to 14

*Graph representative of the projected shift in player population only. Not actual values, and distribution will change as people play.

When we make changes to the Division boundaries on March 27th we will increase the total number of players in Divisions 1-4 , ensuring that the FUT player base is spread across more Divisions within Rivals.

With more players moving up in Divisions as a result of this change, this also represents a rather significant improvement to the Division Rivals rewards and potential time to achieve Weekend League access for these players.

Summary

We hope that you will find this change to be a positive one for Division Rivals, no matter your Skill Rating, and that the changes lead to a more enjoyable experience when playing FUT online.

We are constantly looking to improve the gameplay experience for everyone, so this article may become outdated as we make adjustments to keep our game fun for everyone.

Thank you
Tyler Blair and the FUT Development Team.

For more deep dives on FIFA 19 from members of the game team, check out the Pitch Notes Page.

Please Note: This article is describing in general terms what updates are implemented in FIFA 19 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. We are constantly looking to improve the gameplay experience for everyone, so this article may become outdated as we make adjustments to keep our game fun for everyone.

FIFA 19 is available now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. 

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