FIFA 18 is a few months away from its official unveiling, but EA has confirmed that the surprisingly good story mode from FIFA 17 will return to its popular football video game series. According to EA CEO Andrew Wilson, The Journey Season Two will apparently feature new characters and story-lines and will ‘build on the foundation created with story mode this year’.

The first season of The Journey followed young Premier League starlet Alex Hunter as he made his way through the first season of his professional career, with some suitably compelling ups and downs. Given the way The Journey ended last time round, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Alex return, but how EA build on it will be an interesting challenge.

Either way, the news of The Journey’s return is not a shock. It was one of FIFA 17’s most heralded additions, with critics falling for its enjoyable yarn and boy-did-good charm.

EA boss Andrew Wilson said more than 10 million people had played The Journey. While that phrase doesn't clarify exactly how many people played it for more than a couple of minutes, it's clear The Journey was popular enough for EA to stick with it for this year's game.

So, FIFA 18 will "bring players back to The Journey with Season 2," Wilson said. Season 2 features new characters and new storylines, he added.

The first season of The Journey followed young Premier League starlet Alex Hunter as he made his way through the first season of his professional career, with some suitably compelling ups and downs. Given the way The Journey ended last time round, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Alex return, but how EA build on it will be an interesting challenge.

As compiled by Seeking Alpha, EA's CEO Andrew Wilson and its CFO Blake Jorgensen praised FIFA 17's success since launch in late September last year during the call—stating it was the top-selling console game of last year, and that as such was on course to become the publisher's best-selling FIFA game of all time.

Speaking to The Journey's return, Wilson said: "FIFA 18 will build on the foundation we created with story mode this year, bringing players back to The Journey with Season 2, featuring new characters and new storylines. Our development team in Vancouver is delivering deeply innovative new experiences across this year's game, including an Ultimate Team, and creating the most emotionally immersive and connected FIFA we have ever produced."