About FIFA
FIFA (now known as EA Sports FC) is the most played football game of the past 30 years. The FIFA series belongs to the highest-grossing video game series of all time. The game is developed by Electronic Arts, also known as EA Sports. The first FIFA game was released in 1993 on the Sega Megadrive, and we are currently in the 30th iteration (not counting its mobile version): FIFA 23. FIFA 24 will be the first game under its new name, EA Sports FC.
What is FIFA?
FIFA is a football simulation game. The game has gone through a lot of changes, both graphically and gameplay wise since its inception in 1993. It's the first football game to introduce an isometric view, unlike its first competitors Kick-Off and European Club Soccer. Something the game has kept to this day.
The first FIFA game, called FIFA International Soccer, did not have any official player names, and you could only use national teams. Due to its success on the Sega Megadrive, it became one of the best-selling games on that console, EA brought out FIFA 95 less than a year later. With it came club teams and real names. EA Sports has brought out a new FIFA game every year since FIFA 95.
Popular game modes
The FIFA games have undergone quite a few changes throughout the years. The game looks much better graphically than 30 years ago. But that isn't the only thing that changed. EA Sports has also introduced and removed different game modes. FIFA Ultimate Team was introduced in FIFA 09 (in 2009) on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as a downloadable add-on. Due to its success, they also made the mode available in FIFA 10 and 11. Since FIFA 12, Ultimate Team has been added to the base game and is accessible on all platforms, and has been the most played mode of the game.
Since FIFA 09, EA has introduced player packs in the game. In its hay day, there were three different packs: bronze, silver, and gold. Today, however, there are more than a hundred different packs in the game, from Promo Packs to Rare Mega Packs. Even though some clarity is lost, the FIFA Ultimate Team Game modus and its packs prove to be a solid revenue stream for EA. In 2020 and 2021, EA made about 1.6 billion dollars per year off this game mode alone.
FIFA 23
FIFA 23 is the newest iteration in the FIFA video game series, released on the 26th of September 2022. One of the major changes to the game is its introduction of Hypermotion 2.0, which means better and more realistic animations from players. This should give the game a more realistic feeling compared to earlier versions. Next to that, the game also has a World Cup modus as the 2022 World Cup took place just a few months after its release.
Due to this world cup, EA Sports is also introducing Hero cards for players that showed exceptional play during the cup. These cards will be added in a Marvel-esque style, according to EA.
Another major change is the addition of Women’s football, which is a first for the video game series. This includes club teams from a few of the top competitions, as well as the national teams due to the women’s World Cup taking place in 2023. In line with the addition, the FIFA 23 game box was covered by both Paris Saint Germain player Kylian Mbappé and Chelsea player Samantha Kerr.
FIFA becoming EA Sports FC
In May of 2022, EA Sports announced that its iconic FIFA video game series will be called EA Sports FC moving forward. The name change occurred after an ending license agreement with the football federation FIFA. According to several sources, EA and FIFA couldn't come to a financial agreement regarding the price for the name usage. EA paid about 150 million per year for the usage of the name and wanted to stay with the same rate. However, FIFA wanted double that moving forward.
With the agreement coming to an end, it is also the end of an era. FIFA 23 will be the last known FIFA game made by EA. It is rumored however that FIFA is currently working on its own football simulation game, which could make life very confusing in the future.
As for EA Sports FC. EA Sports has promised that nothing will change gameplay-wise and that real player names and club names will stay. In 2023, EA will release more information about the first EA Sports FC game.
