Last month, Gianni Infantino recently announced that the world of soccer sims has come to life
Posted Date – Monday, 03/04/23 at 12:45am
Hyderabad: Last month, the world of football sims came to life with Gianni Infantino’s latest statement emphasizing his expectations for the upcoming FIFA franchise. After parting ways with longtime partner Electronic Arts, the soccer simulator popular among gamers and soccer fans is getting a big change as EA will offer its version of the game under the name EA SPORTS FC. “
EA’s website touts an upcoming game (EA SPORTS FC) as “the future of football” and expects “new independent platforms will bring new opportunities – to innovate, create and grow.” EA tries to convince fans that, The name change is not just a brand change, but a deeper commitment that EA hopes to continue to lead in an increasingly monopolized and stagnant genre.
On the other hand, while Infantino promises more updates to the franchise, he hopes that “the new FIFA games — FIFA 25, 26, 27, etc. — will always be the best video games for any girl or boy.” Recently Leaks from The Wall Street Journal, most recently on Friday, have flagged the development of FIFA 25 as an ambitious project that could be spearheaded by a studio like 2K and could launch in December 2024.
While I strongly advise against taking leaks at face value, it’s important to understand that in today’s video game industry, designing a new game/IP from scratch typically takes close to 4-5 years of work. Few development teams have been able to design gaming experiences that can match EA’s capabilities, refined over 30 years.
Although, one could argue that creating sports-based games is nothing new for someone like 2K, especially considering they make WWE and NBA-based games, I don’t think the expertise translates to the task at hand Recognizing and building from scratch are two completely different challenges.
Infantino’s game needed to provide a unique football experience while giving people a reason to ditch EA’s title. EA promises that EA SPORTS FC will continue to provide game modes such as Ultimate Team, Manager Mode, Pro Clubs and VOLTA Football.
Given that a well-done simulation is evaluated on its accuracy for recreating the mundane and the spectacular, challenging a game that’s spread out across so many modes is next to impossible. As such, FIFA 25 had to be able to follow the physics of two simple ground passes, while allowing spectacular scorpion kicks and roulettes to be performed, making them both plausible and successfully conveying the awe that accompanies the execution of these moves.
If that wasn’t complicated enough, it also requires consistently replicating the same outcome billions of times with varying latencies over a massive number of online and offline matches, and accounting for the myriad ways players interpret its underlying mechanics.
December 2024 doesn’t seem like there’s enough time to get all of these things resolved. Yes, it’s possible, though Infantino may feel like a “game developer” for the next 18 months.
