EA Sports FIFA: New Documentary Chronicles Evolution of Iconic Video Game
EA Sports produced another strong effort with FIFA 16. The game released on September 22 in North America and September 24 worldwide. While competition between it and the Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer franchise seems to be heating back up, with PES 2016 well received, things are still looking good for FIFA.
It hasn't always been that way. A recently released documentary from Complex called The FIFA Story discusses the ups and downs the iconic franchise has had en route to its current status as a sports video game mega title.
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You may or may not have seen features on the makings of a video game in the past, but what makes this one particularly interesting is that it isn't an EA production. That gives the piece a different feel.
Don't get me wrong, it is definitely pro FIFA, but it's also honest in its discussion of the rivalry with Pro Evolution Soccer. The various producers and designers in the video acknowledge that PES dominated the competition between the two games during the mid-2000s.
The turning point in the competition seems to have taken place in 2007 when EA Sports released FIFA 08, which boasted a new engine. That technical development in addition to the hiring of David Rutter to oversee the series and become the face of the franchise changed the game.
Under Rutter's tutelage, the FIFA franchise has continued to build on the success the game experienced that year. Now it is almost universally viewed as one of the premier sports video game titles annually.
Here are the Metacritic scores for each release since 2007 for a Sony gaming console.
(The game has also been produced for PC and Microsoft gaming consoles over this time with identical or very similar scores.)
It should be noted, PES 2016 received an 88 Metacritic, its highest grade in years. However, the FIFA series still owns most of the pivotal licenses in the sport, such as the English Premier League. Ironically, it was a licensing move from Konami that birthed a concept that has become one of the most influential gaming modes in the history of sports video games.
Per lead game-play producer Aaron McHardy, the Ultimate Team concept that has become a mainstay in almost every other EA Sports title, and part of the feature set for other sports franchises such as NBA 2K and MLB The Show, was born as the developers tried to come up with something to take the place of Champions League content.
In 2009, Konami had secured the UEFA license, and EA needed a fresh concept to grab gamers' attention. Ultimate Team was born and the rest is history. Whenever something is created and then duplicated or emulated as much as the Ultimate Team concept has been, the creators know they've done something right.
EA Sports is hoping to again be a trendsetter with its inclusion of women in the game. FIFA 16 is the first full-scale team sports video game to incorporate women's teams. There are 12 national teams in all, and this was clearly not a feature the developers took lightly.
The overwhelming two words that come to mind after watching the short documentary are: pride and passion. There's no doubting how much the folks who work on this game care about its quality. Rutter encapsulated the theme in this poignant quote from the feature.
He said:
"Essentially, the advice I was given when I chose to go down this path was: Why don’t you find something you care about, and want to do, and go and do that for a living? If you put yourself around things that you love, and that you would do in your own spare time, that’s the type of job you should try to get.
"
Whether you're a game producer, athlete, real estate agent or any other occupation, that should be everyone's GOAAAAAL!!!
Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
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