Will FIFA 21 and NBA2k21 revive their respective communities?

Yes, let's get the obvious out of the way. There are more games that have communities who want them to issue a change but I can't speak for them. What I can do is talk about the games I do actually play and can understand and relate with their communities and what they want.

Both these games are supposed to be simulation games, which give you the feeling of being a part of them and give them control over their favorite players and franchise. It's also a place where one could make absurd things realistic or as close as you can get to realism like playing current stars with great players who are probably not even with us anymore. However, they also have an arcade mode i.e. FUT and MyTeam. This is where these companies make most of their profits because you can either grind the game or pay to win, and that's exactly where the companies try to veer their games. The realistic part of the game doesn't make money and hence their overlooked. Let's look at their problems and see if they can make a difference in their next edition of their games.

Firstly, lets begin with NBA 2k. The NBA2k19 game had a very broken but very fun MyTeam mode and the expectation was to build on that success. And that's literally what they did. They took the literal same 2k19 mode and copied it 2k20. It was legit the same, menus and all. They did try to fix the broken aspects of 2k19 by introducing position locks to ensure people don't manipulate the game by doing unrealistic thing like having Shaq as your point guard and can also shoot from Curry range and dominating actual point guards like CP3 and Trae Young. However they did a full 180 and released cards during promos or for completing objectives, which could basically play positions the never do, for example Lebron at center. So that was a small attempt for change but mostly useless. They also released Evolution cards which if you love to grind the game it's heavenly for you. I love that from 2k actually making improvements for the die hard 2k community. Now onto the MyCareer mode, 2k like always had a really interesting and fun story as an introduction and everything else was alright. The problem begins with the neighborhood, it's pretty similar to last year but with unnecessary additions. The 2k community has voiced for the neighborhood to be taken out completely. And lastly, the most overlooked game mode, MyLeague. This is a game mode that has not at all changed in probably a decade except for the fact that it is now worse. The simulation speed is awful and trade finder has become very unrealistic. The same players always dominate and has no parity in the game mode. It takes out the entire realistic factor of the mode and creators like KOT4Q and SROS who have tried to voice their frustrations but to no avail. I hope 2k21 at least attempts to make changes in the right direction but with my experience I wouldn't hold my breath.

Now onto probably the worst FIFA game I have ever played. They probably made a whole lot of money and saw a lot of their big creators come back and play the game so they would assume that this year was a WIN for them and that's all they care about. This game had the most bonehead and infuriating gameplay ever. It doesn't matter if you're good at the game or no because skill makes no difference. All you have to do is set up your formation in 4-2-3-1 formation in game and set your tactics to drop back and have no depth or width and only score on a lucky counter attack. Also spam drag backs and ball rolls and you'll probably score another couple goals. The toxicity is at an all time high and that really would turn you off from playing the game. Also there is no realism, Harry Kane, who is a phenomenal player in real life is unplayable but a small, agile player like Ryan Kent who is not even the best player on the Rangers much less the world is way more usable and lethal. And that's just me scratching the surface. I haven't even gone into how useless headers are in this game. The Ultimate Team mode is just a money suck and the content is usually dead. They introduced a summer heat promo which replaced Futties but except that everything has been useless and made no sense. They introduced VOLTA, a FIFA street-esque game mode which no one touched. Career Mode is also unchanged and as bad as ever. Pro Clubs have been a plus but there is nothing to play for or any incentives or anything. I have seen FIFA 21 trailers and gameplay and what they are going to add could save the game but knowing them and their track record they will probably have something else that is even more broken.

Both these games are the top of their respective categories and hence they don't feel any pressure to change but with the growing frustrations in each community I would not be shocked that they lose a big chunk of their fan base.