Rory McIlroy

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The game's development represented a major shift for the franchise, as *Rory McIlroy PGA Tour* was rebuilt from scratch using DICE's Frostbite 3 engine, primarily used for the Battlefield franchise. Executive producer Brent Nielsen explained that Frostbite 3 was tailored towards 'creating complex, lifelike environments' and allowed the team to 'recreate some of the world's most beautiful courses, as well as create some new ideas of our own.' Producer Ryan Ferwerda noted that the changes necessitated a complete rebuild. The engine enabled an entire course to be rendered on a single map rather than hole-by-hole, reducing loading times. The game also introduced NBC Sports' Golf Channel presentation with commentators Rich Lerner and Frank Nobilo replacing CBS Sports' Jim Nantz and David Feherty. New swing modes were added—Arcade, 3-Click, and Tour—along with assists like a Backswing Meter, Aiming Arc, and putt read features. A new mode, Night Club Challenge, required players to make shots at targets in a nightclub-inspired setting. However, the game was criticized for regressions, including a small number of available courses on launch and the removal of various modes and features present in previous PGA Tour games, such as amateur and women's events, Stableford scoring, online Country Clubs Quick Tournament, weather, and career schedules. Additional courses and some missing features were added back in subsequent updates.

In Their Own Story

Rory McIlroy PGA Tour received 'mixed or average' reviews according to Metacritic. Polygon gave it a 6 out of 10, praising the new engine's visual appearance, short loading times, ball physics, the new putting system, career progression that allowed players to 'deepen their package of abilities instead of forcing him or her to be pure power, pure accuracy or down the middle,' lifelike crowds, and Golf Channel commentators that were 'much more conversational than the wooden and overacted delivery of Jim Nantz,' albeit somewhat repetitive. However, the game was criticized for its lack of courses and events, with only two of the Men's majors represented, the removal of LPGA events and all but one Web.com Tour event, limited character creation options, and the removal of features from previous editions. IGN gave the game a 5.5 out of 10, praising the new swing modes and assists for allowing customization and the Frostbite engine for being 'appreciably superior than the links of the last generation—even if some of the textures are a little flat and a lot of the course features tend to pop in around the path of the ball's flight.' IGN criticized the lack of content and removal of features, particularly in career mode, which saw the removal of bonus objectives, practice rounds, career schedules, and the trophy room. IGN concluded that 'concessions are often made when sports games straddle the gap between console generations old and new, but considering the two year wait for a game that is only being released on current-gen hardware, the rampant slash and burn of its feature set is particularly galling.' The online services shut down on January 16, 2025, making users unable to access any online multiplayer features.

Reader's Guide

Rory McIlroy PGA Tour includes eight real-world courses on-disc: Bay Hill, Chambers Bay, the Old Course at St. Andrews, Royal Troon, TPC Boston, TPC Sawgrass, Whistling Straits, and Wolf Creek. TPC Scottsdale was a pre-order exclusive. Four fantasy courses are also offered, including one based on the Battlefield 4 map Paracel Storm, the Grand Canyon, and a nightclub-themed course for the game's challenge mode. Due to an expired license, Augusta National and the Masters Tournament do not appear in the game, although an EA representative suggested the course may be re-introduced as DLC in the future. Free updates added TPC Scottsdale, East Lake Golf Club, Treasure Island, Quail Hollow Club, PGA West Stadium Course, Oakmont Country Club, and Banff Springs. The Quail Hollow update re-introduced alternate shot, best ball, four ball, and skins play. Henrik Stenson and Dustin Johnson were added as playable characters in October and November 2015 respectively. The May 2016 update introduced changes to the behavior of majors in career mode, which now alternate between one of two included courses that had recently hosted it, such as Chambers Bay (2015) and Oakmont for the U.S. Open, St. Andrews (2015) and Royal Troon (2016) for the Open Championship, and Whistling Straits (2015) and Quail Hollow (2017) for the PGA Championship.

Did You Know?

• Rory McIlroy became the first player since 1999 to replace Tiger Woods as the namesake of the EA Sports PGA Tour franchise.
• The game was rebuilt from scratch using DICE's Frostbite 3 engine, which allowed entire courses to be rendered on a single map rather than hole-by-hole.
• Due to an expired license, Augusta National and the Masters Tournament do not appear in the game, though an EA representative suggested it might return as DLC.
• The online services for Rory McIlroy PGA Tour shut down on January 16, 2025, ending all online multiplayer access.
• The game features a fantasy course based on the Battlefield 4 map Paracel Storm.