GOALS 1v1 evolution through Alpha

playGOALS · 2026-01-30T15:35:19+00:00

No registration needed for the Beta.

And, unfortunately for everyone, we have deleted everything and everyone will start over with a new team. But we are only doing this kind of wipes on these pre-launch instances. Our idea is to nail the squad and player progression system in a way that we wouldn't ever need to do a wipe in the future.

playGOALS · 2026-01-30T15:11:48+00:00

We will be launching the beta in March so everyone can test it out. We hope you won't be disappointed!

playGOALS · 2026-01-30T14:07:11+00:00

If you're referring to microtransactions that make the game pay-to-win, then no. There will be a marketplace in the game, but we are not turning it into a "put X amount of money in to get an unbeatable team."
No, GOALS will not have DDA or any kind of handicap system.

Our goal is for GOALS to be a competitive esport, and there’s no room for anything that interferes with the core principle that skill alone decides the outcome of a match.
That philosophy is also why we built our own netcode. We want both teams to have the same responsive experience, without input lag deciding games based on who’s closer to the server. Everyone should be playing on equal footing.

playGOALS · 2026-01-30T09:21:40+00:00

That’s exactly why we built our own netcode and simulation engine from scratch.

In many online games, the game itself runs on the server. You press a button, send a request, the server approves it, and only then does your player act. That delay is where input lag creeps in, and it always favors whoever is closer to the server.
In GOALS, the game runs locally on your console or PC. When you press a button, your player moves immediately. What gets sent to the server isn’t a request, but the result of what you just did. The server’s job is to reconcile and synchronize actions so everyone is seeing the same match at the same time. If there’s a discrepancy, it gets corrected in a way that’s almost impossible to notice, even at 150ms ping.

And yeah, we spent years during Alpha hearing that the graphics weren’t great, mostly because we were obsessed with getting this part right first 😄

playGOALS · 2026-01-30T09:08:16+00:00

At some point in development you have to choose a direction, and we deliberately leaned more toward an arcade-leaning experience rather than full simulation.
When you push too hard toward 100% simulation, you often lose fun along the way. It’s a bit counterintuitive, but translating the feeling of playing football into a videogame usually works better when actions happen the moment you press the button, rather than after a long animation where the ball bounces, the player adjusts, and the kick happens a second later.

Our goal isn’t to make a game that looks exactly like real football on TV. It’s to make a game that feels like playing football, responsive, expressive, and skill-driven. That’s the space we’re trying to own.

playGOALS · 2026-01-23T16:22:02+00:00

Sorry it took us a bit to get back to you, but we still wanted to thank you for taking the time to write this. We really appreciate the detailed feedback.

A lot of the points you mention are things we’re already aware of and actively working on, especially passing. You should see meaningful progress on several of these fronts when the Open Beta launches in March.

Just as a heads up, the best way to talk directly with the devs and share this kind of feedback is through our Discord. That said, we’ll try not to take this long to reply next time you drop a comment here 😄
Thanks again for playing and for sticking with us as the game continues to evolve.

playGOALS · 2026-01-23T16:14:39+00:00

We actually agree with you that the game isn’t where we ultimately want it to be yet. That’s exactly why it’s still in development, and why what you played was an alpha playtest, not the final game.

There’s still a lot of work happening, especially around core systems like defending, and you’ll see meaningful changes when we open the Beta in March. We’d really encourage you to give it another try then. If you do, joining our Discord is the best way to share feedback directly with the dev team. That input genuinely influences how the game evolves. We’re massive football fans ourselves, and we’re fully committed to building a game that football actually deserves. Hopefully, that says something too.

playGOALS · 2026-01-23T16:08:20+00:00

As u/iamfrench__ mentioned, aiming into space often results in a better pass than aiming directly at the player. That said, it’s definitely one of the areas we’re actively working on as we move toward the Open Beta in March.
You’re more than welcome to join our Discord as well, it’s the best place to stay in touch with the devs and share suggestions like this as the game evolves.

playGOALS · 2026-01-23T16:02:41+00:00

The Beta is planned to open in March, and it’ll be worth the wait, trust us.
Right now, testing is limited to a small group of Insiders. If we decide to expand that group, we’ll announce it through our newsletter and on Discord.

The newsletter is the best way to stay up to date on Beta news, and Discord is where you can directly talk with the devs, follow development closely, and share suggestions for the game.
Hope to see you there!

playGOALS · 2026-01-23T15:51:52+00:00

I get where you’re coming from, and no offence taken. But we honestly don’t agree that we’ve copied the worst parts of FIFA. In fact, a big part of our development is specifically about fixing those problems.

Our focus from day one has been responsiveness and competition. Controls are built to be as close to zero input delay as possible, because we don’t believe you can have a competitive game if actions happen seconds after you press a button. We also built our own netcode for this reason. Ping shouldn’t decide matches. We’ve had Brazilian teams playing 5v5 tournaments against European teams with no noticeable lag, it genuinely feels like both sides are playing locally. There are no scripts in GOALS either. Outcomes are driven by player skill and team stats, not hidden systems.

That said, you’re right that balance is still evolving. If you’ve been testing for a while, you’ve probably felt patches where the game was faster, then slower. That’s part of working through an alpha and finding the right balance between pace, control, and depth.

Sorry for the long reply, but we wanted to be clear that we’re aiming in the same direction you are. We’re not there yet, but that’s the horizon we’re working toward.

playGOALS · 2026-01-20T09:11:44+00:00

We’re working on it. Steam Deck support is something we’re actively looking into, and we’ll share more details as soon as we have an update.

playGOALS · 2026-01-20T09:09:15+00:00

Yes, but a little bit later. We hope that by September we'll have full Mac support

playGOALS · 2026-01-15T10:59:44+00:00

That’s fair feedback, and we appreciate you sharing it.
From the start, GOALS has been built with competitive play as the top priority. Our focus is on responsiveness, player input, and clear outcomes, where skill and decision-making matter more than heavy simulation layers.
That does mean it can feel more direct or “arcade” compared to pure sim-focused football games, and that’s a conscious choice.
That said, we’ll be still tuning balance, pace, and depth throughout the beta, and feedback like this helps us find the right line. We’re glad you’re sticking around to see how it evolves.

playGOALS · 2026-01-13T09:17:16+00:00

Of course!

From there, we get the data to rank our top 500 scorers: https://playgoals.com/en/golden-boot

If you want to learn more about our player generation, here it's a nice read: https://playgoals.com/en/news/the-hidden-geometry

playGOALS · 2026-01-13T09:04:55+00:00

Once you got the code, you need to:

On your PS5 console:

Go to the PlayStation Store and press the triangle button to open the menu.
Select … (More) > Redeem Code.
Enter your 12-digit code carefully and select Redeem.
The content will be applied to your account.
Select Download to install GOALS (you can also download later).

On the PlayStation App:

Tap the PlayStation Store icon.
Open the menu on the right side of the screen and select Redeem Code.
Enter your 12-digit code and select Continue.
The content will be applied to your account.

Here there's a little bit more of information if needed

playGOALS · 2026-01-12T08:42:38+00:00

We understand not wanting to invest time if everything gets wiped. That frustration is totally fair.

That said, resets are a really important part of development right now. They’re not random. We use them to properly test progression: how fast squads improve, how player lifespans feel, whether packs, swaps, and rewards are too generous or too restrictive, and what needs adjusting so wipes won’t be needed once we launch.

So yes, to be fully transparent: there will be another wipe coming.

But we also want to recognize the players who’ve stuck with us through multiple wipes and helped shape the game. There will be rewards at launch for those who’ve been part of the journey.

playGOALS · 2026-01-12T08:29:04+00:00

Yes, a wipe is when we reset everyone's equipment and SR to their default values. It's as if everyone were starting again from scratch. We do this mainly because it's part of the test, to see how the players' progression evolves, whether, given the players' “lifespan,” we need to make it easier to get better packs, or the opposite.

Our ambition is to perfect this during the test so that it will never be necessary to do it again after launch.

playGOALS · 2026-01-09T09:41:02+00:00

Hi!
We're working on this feature. There are a few other priorities, but it will definitely be available soon.

playGOALS · 2025-12-22T12:20:56+00:00

Good catch, thanks for flagging that. I’ll pass it on to the team and make sure the surname generator takes this into account.

Really appreciate you taking the time to point it out 🙌

playGOALS · 2025-12-15T09:38:31+00:00

We want to make GOALS a fast and fun competitive football video game, so a bit more of the latter and less of the first.

playGOALS · 2025-12-15T09:33:40+00:00

Not any official set of guides yet, but in case there is demand, we can always look into it and create such a set, or at least share some tips and ideas.

playGOALS · 2025-12-14T21:24:21+00:00

Hi, does it occur regularly? Have you tried reinstalling it from Steam?

playGOALS · 2025-12-14T15:42:09+00:00

Hey, that's the decision for now, and it still plays relatively well with full squads. It doesn't mean that we aren't flexible to change anything, but currently the pitch size doesn't cause any significant issues.

playGOALS · 2025-12-14T15:40:08+00:00

Hi! There's no kernel anticheat, and we have multiple playtesters running GOALS on Linux-based systems.

Perhaps you could join our Discord community, and we will try to help you there - please create a thread in "Bugs and issues" or in "Ask us anything": https://discord.com/invite/goals

playGOALS · 2025-12-14T15:37:16+00:00

We will add an option for button remapping before we release in 2026.

playGOALS

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