Rematch remains a powerhouse, bringing in a vast variety of competitive multiplayer gamers and football fans alike. Inevitably, as with all live-service titles, there's a hunger for new updates, with crossplay sitting comfortably as the feature in highest demand.

The good news is that crossplay remains the "top priority" for Slowclap, CEO Pierre Tarno told Eurogamer in an interview recently. Tarno acknowledged the long road the game has yet to walk, and highlighted four core pillars of gameplay overhauls the team intends to add in the near future.

"We were hoping to get it in for launch, it's hard to do properly" stated Tarno, when asked about Crossplay coming to Rematch. "But there are also things like being able to team up at the end of a game or call for a rematch, being able to drop into friends' squads and spectate their games. These kinds of things are going to be very important."

Crossplay was highlighted as the number one "top priority", according to Tarno. Though for Sloclap, important updates align with what Tarno describes as the four "core pillars" of Rematch: Social, core gameplay, competitive, and casual.

Crossplay falls into social, the ability to play with friends, with Tarno telling Eurogamer that Rematch "is fundamentally all about the joy of playing with friends." It goes further than crossplay though! According to Tarno, the developer would like to add the ability to team up with teammates at the end of matches, ask for a rematch at the end of a game, and the options to jump into a friend's game to play or spectate.

Then there's core gameplay updates, to which Tarno provided ample examples of changes the team is considering: "At the moment we're continuing to fix bugs, but we want to keep adding depth and granularity to the mechanics", explained Tarno. "An example would be tackling. Things we're considering is splitting the recovery of a tackle depending on whether or not it was a successful tackle, in order to be able to tweak precisely your commitment and punish players who fail a tackle. On the other hand, if your tackle did connect, being able to get back on your feet and building on the action faster.

"Especially with tackles and sliding tackles, giving players some means of controlling the ball when they tackle. At the moment when you tackle the ball goes straight in the direction of your tackle, but we have ideas that would allow you to shift that direction, so it can be towards your team mates, so it can push forward further or shorter.

"We're considering things with goalkeeping and dribbling too, so we'll keep refining. Our guiding principle is for the game to be as interesting as possible in a competitive environment. The game is already relatively simple to pick up and play [...] what's important is that the game remains interesting and deep, both from a mechanic perspective and a tactical perspective at high levels of play."

As for additions that feed the competitively-minded players, Tarno noted that the team is looking to add the tournament and club system at some point this year. While he noted that a roadmap isn't locked in quite yet, this is seemingly something Tarno and the team are keen to pursue, given the emphasis on skill expression present in Rematch.

Finally, you've got casual play. To this, Tarno expanded on pre-established plans that should offer people a new avenue for play in Rematch: "There's stuff like solid AI bots to play with and against, more workshops and tutorials and activities for players to do. Things to unlock, rewards and badges, stuff like that. Game modes are also a way to keep things fresh, and it may seem a little simplistic, but we see it as a casual part of the experience. So we intend to bring in new game modes during the first season, to refresh the experience and let players approach the game in a different way."

With all this, Tarno believes that the strong early momentum Rematch has can be maintained in the coming months. Word of mouth is key, according to Tarno, but he was sure to emphasise his belief that a strong line of communication between Sloclap and the community of football fanatics will do wonders in the coming months. Months that, according to Tarno, will result in a game that's "a lot better than the one you have now."