EA Sports FC 26, which launched on September 26, has entered the discount fray with a 50% price cut as it nears its two-month anniversary. This aggressive move has propelled it to 5th place on the global Steam top-sellers chart.

To be fair, seeing EA Sports FC 26 slashed to half-price isn't exactly a shock to the system. It’s practically a series tradition by the time Black Friday rolls around. For perspective, EA Sports FC 25 went on sale just 48 days after launch, while EA Sports FC 24 and FIFA 23 followed suit after 54 days. While the Steam version hit this milestone near the two-month mark, console versions usually trigger these discounts even earlier.

In terms of what's actually under the bonnet, the game offers two presets—'Competitive Gameplay' for snappy passing and responsive controls, and 'Authentic Gameplay' for that true-to-life football feel. EA also focused on tweaking the AI and goalkeeper systems, alongside the usual promises of graphical polish and optimisation.

Yet, the reception has been, well, less than stellar compared to its predecessors. Players are vocal about the lack of meaningful innovation, and frankly, the technical state is a bit of a shambles; crashes and freezes are dampening the experience. Add in a shaky online server infrastructure and a general lack of progress despite repetitive patches, and it’s no wonder the recent user reviews on Steam have slumped to 'Mostly Negative' (37% positive out of 5,006 reviews).

Elsewhere, Hearts of Iron climbed the ranks thanks to a new expansion. While the DLC shakes up the mechanics for Japan and China, fans are grumbling that the price tag is a bit steep for the amount of content provided. Meanwhile, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 continues to suffer, currently languishing with a 'Mostly Negative' rating.

In the peak Concurrent Players department, Escape from Tarkov—once the darling of the community—is seeing a gradual slide, landing at 78,709 players. While the pre-weekend numbers show a general decline across the board, ARC Raiders remains an outlier, holding steady with 348,832 players, a slight uptick from the previous day.

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