EA tries to shake up its long-running FIFA franchise every 12 months, but this year we’ll see the biggest change in some time as the series makes the switch to the Frostbite game engine. 

The soccer sim has been powered by Ignite since 2013, along with EA's other sporting efforts Madden NFL, NHL, EA Sports UFC, and NBA Live.

Frostbite, by contrast, has largely been the backbone for the publisher's more high-octane releases, such as Battlefield 4, Star Wars: Battlefront, and Need for Speed. 

EA has only ever used the engine to create a sports title once before, using it last year to build Rory Mcllroy PGA Tour.

The latest iteration of the engine, Frostbite 3, introduced a host of new features including updated weathering systems, physically based rendering, and photogrammetry, which was used by DICE to bring Star Wars: Battlefront to life.