What it had to solve
EA Sports FC 26 launched into a community that felt unheard, after years of vocal criticism of the franchise. Uncommon's task: prove EA was listening and hand the game back to the fans, while driving early-access sales.
The idea
Trawl thousands of community ideas and literally film them — fan suggestions, from gameplay tweaks to unhinged fantasies, become the launch trailer itself.
How it works
Uncommon and EA mined thousands of community ideas and staged them for real: polar bears charging the pitch, a 45-foot goal for Van Dijk, lightning striking a Bellingham shot, a giant Oliver Kahn through a wall, Zlatan scoring from outside the stadium. Gary Freedman directed through MJZ with Framestore VFX; over 50 short-form spin-offs starred Alex Morgan, Musiala, Endrick, Skepta and Angry Ginge.
What it did
Won Silver in Entertainment for Gaming at Cannes Lions 2026; anchored FC 26's biggest campaign ever and a standing FC Feedback Hub that channels player ideas into game updates.
Background
By 2025 the EA Sports FC franchise faced a highly vocal, disillusioned community that felt its feedback went nowhere. For the FC 26 launch, Uncommon Creative Studio flipped the usual dynamic: instead of telling fans the game had changed, it let the fans' own words supply the script.
EA and Uncommon trawled thousands of community ideas — sensible gameplay tweaks and completely unhinged requests alike — and brought them to life in a two-and-a-half-minute film. Polar bears charge across the pitch, Virgil van Dijk heads toward a 45-foot goal, lightning strikes a Bellingham shot, a gigantic Oliver Kahn smashes through a wall, and Zlatan scores from outside the stadium.
Gary Freedman directed through MJZ with Framestore on VFX, and the cast mixed football and culture: Jude Bellingham, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Van Dijk, Lewis Hamilton, Alyssa Thompson, plus cameos from Kahn, Toni Kroos and Cole Palmer. More than 50 short-form films followed across social and TV with Alex Morgan, Jamal Musiala, Endrick, Manuel Neuer, Skepta and Angry Ginge.
The platform extended into the product itself through the FC Feedback Hub, where players submit ideas that shape updates — and an all-Zlatan in-game mode born from a fan joke. 'The Club Is Yours' won Silver in Entertainment for Gaming at Cannes Lions 2026 and headlined FC 26's biggest campaign to date.
Why it lands
The creative idea and the proof of listening are the same artifact — the film is the community's document.
Absurdist fan requests (polar bears, 45-foot goals) give the spectacle a logic no copywriter could invent.
A standing Feedback Hub turns a campaign gesture into permanent product infrastructure.
50+ short-form spin-offs let each community and star carry the idea to their own audience.
What you can take
Your community's wildest suggestions are a ready-made script — filming them verbatim proves you're listening louder than any manifesto could.
Since then
The Club Is Yours took Silver in Entertainment for Gaming at Cannes Lions 2026. EA folded the idea into an ongoing platform: the FC Feedback Hub keeps routing player suggestions into FC 26 updates, and EA later extended fan participation into in-game advertising formats.
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