EA Sports FC 24 ditches FIFA and goes it alone after 24 years together – the result is a new look, but still a hugely enjoyable, experience.
FourFourTwo spoke to industry insiders and those involved in the game's 30-year history to bring you the complete story.
FourFourTwo spoke to industry insiders and those involved in the game's 30-year history to bring you the complete story.
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00:00This is how FIFA changed video games and football forever.
00:05Meet Tom Stone.
00:07Now a revered industry veteran, but 30 years ago recently appointed as EA's Vice President
00:12of European Marketing and assigned to the team working on the game.
00:16He still remembers the conversations inside the company ahead of the launch of the very
00:20first edition of FIFA, and they weren't overly positive.
00:24The Americans just didn't get it, he told 442's Chris Evans.
00:29They were like, soccer?
00:31What is that?
00:32They asked how many units this game was going to sell.
00:34They said football wasn't very popular, and we said, actually, it really is.
00:39In the end, even EA's European division who'd argued the case for the creation of a football
00:43game couldn't have envisaged quite how big their idea would become.
00:48While Stone and his colleagues were consciously searching for an evergreen franchise that
00:51would deliver big returns each year, in the same way as modern NFL was doing in North
00:56America, they didn't foresee the global sensation that would follow.
01:00But following the game's first iteration, FIFA International Soccer, released on Sega
01:04Mega Drive in late 1993, the series sold more than 330 million copies and became the biggest
01:11selling sports video game franchise of all time.
01:15It was kind of a little play with soccer in the US, with the World Cup being held there
01:19in 1994, but there was little resource and frankly limited interest, and the game was
01:24very close to not being finished on time.
01:26They thought, let's get it out and forget about this thing, and kind of sleepwalked
01:30into a cultural phenomenon.
01:32It became so big that they had to make another one, and another one, and another one.
01:37Over time it overtook Madden and became the game globally that everybody wanted to play.
01:41It wasn't an accidental success, but it also wasn't a million miles off that.
01:46The idea of a football game had first been suggested to EA in late 1991, after senior
01:51executive Mark Lewis identified a gap in the market.
01:54At the time, early 90s cult classic Sensible Soccer had yet to hit the shops, and while
01:59Match Day, Kickoff and Emlyn Hughes International Soccer had earned some fans, no football game
02:05had yet been a huge hit.
02:07Despite the case that Lewis put forward, EA's US division were sceptical and felt football
02:12was too complicated to replicate in game form.
02:15They weren't entirely wrong, with the technology back then making for one-dimensional gameplay
02:20that struggled to provide authenticity, most football games were relatively rigid and formulaic,
02:26lacking the fluidity of real life.
02:27But the team of developers and business brains working on the game's concept had a plan to
02:32stand out from the crowd.
02:35Gameplay would be improved by breaking the tradition of the era, shunning a bird's eye
02:39view, instead creating an angled shot from the corner of the stadium to show more of
02:43the pitch and make the players seem 3D.
02:46Madden had a similar 45 degree view, and that was one of the two things that allowed FIFA
02:51to break through, Stone tells 442.
02:54The other was the licensing strategy we pursued, signing up FIFA as a license partner.
02:59The 1993 game bore the FIFA name but didn't include real players, clubs or domestic leagues.
03:05Instead it was a purely international affair, with fake-named, identikit players filling
03:09the squads of 48 national teams from around the world, including the powerhouses of Hong
03:14Kong, Iraq and Luxembourg.
03:16Tony Gubber provided commentary on the PC CD-ROM version, although it was on the Mega
03:21Drive that it really took off.
03:22EA's target of selling 300,000 copies in Europe, a figure that was considered ambitious,
03:28was smashed within weeks in the UK alone.
03:31More than half a million copies were sold in the first month of release in Britain,
03:36with FIFA International Soccer remaining at the top of the gaming charts deep into 1994.
03:42But already, work to make the second version of the game even better was well underway.
03:48One of Stone's main jobs was to secure the licensing deals from all over the world to
03:52allow FIFA 95 to feature all the major clubs.
03:56By the time FIFA 96 was released, it included the real names of the players too.
04:01EA Sports' slogan was, if it's in the game, it's in the game, Stone says.
04:05That led to me getting on a plane with two other people, flying around the world and
04:09trying to sign every single league we could.
04:12We had a relationship with FIFA, but the last two letters of their name were an indication
04:16of what rights they actually had.
04:18F*** all.
04:19They had nothing, so we helped them to organise and make the leagues realise that they had
04:23rights.
04:24Rights to stadiums, player rights, player likeness rights, apparel rights and the league
04:28structure.
04:29I flew to Italy, to Spain, France and Denmark, we did the MLS in North America and also the
04:34J-League in Japan.
04:36What made FIFA a success was that it ended up being a really compelling game experience.
04:40Quickly, the marketplace was also filling up with a host of other football titles.
04:45But the credibility that naming rights provided meant EA Sports' offering grabbed the attention,
04:50even if some other games had edged ahead of FIFA in the gameplay stakes.
04:55Despite that early success though, the relationship between EA Sports and football's governing
05:00body wasn't always smooth.
05:02The value of FIFA's endorsement clearly hadn't gone unnoticed.
05:06No partnership was sacred if the potential for a better deal was on the table elsewhere.
05:10It was awkward because the only thing they wanted to talk about was, how much money are
05:15you going to give us, Stone adds.
05:17There was very little discussion about building a long term partnership, which is what I wanted
05:20to do from a commercial standpoint.
05:22We didn't know quite how successful the game was going to become, but we had a sense
05:26that this thing could be pretty cool.
05:28Our position was that we wanted to be a good, long term partner with FIFA, but they never
05:33responded.
05:34I did once say that it was like dating a girl you think is wonderful, but you also think,
05:38she's not saying very much, I don't know where I stand.
05:41But I did find out though, because I got a call from someone at Sony in 1996.
05:46He said, you and I need to talk.
05:48I met him and he said FIFA are out shopping the license.
05:51He told me FIFA had approached Sony and asked if they'd be interested in taking the rights
05:56exclusively.
05:57This potential disaster was averted though, before EA Sports cemented their relationship
06:02with the release of FIFA Road to World Cup 98.
06:05As anyone of a certain age will remember, this featured David Beckham on the cover in
06:09the UK.
06:10A fine tournament lay ahead for Becks, where surely nothing could go wrong, yep we'll
06:15just skip that clip thanks very much.
06:17And the French version starred David Ginola, who didn't even make the World Cup at all.
06:21With Raul and Paolo Maldini chosen in Spain and Italy respectively, it was one of the
06:26first examples of EA's new strategy to create a series of localised covers targeted at different
06:31nations.
06:32Before that, the very first cover shots captured in-match action, spawning some unlikely protagonists.
06:38For FIFA 93, that meant Polish journeyman Piotr Swiazewski made an appearance on the
06:43cover alongside England star David Platt.
06:46A year later, it was former Spurs goalkeeper Eric Tordzewet diving to make a spectacular
06:50save.
06:51And perhaps most random of all, Notts County long throw merchant Andy Legge on the cover
06:56of FIFA 96, attempting a sliding tackle on Brescia's Sabau during the Anglo-Italian
07:02Cup final.
07:03From the late 2000s, there was more of a negotiation with players, but what helped was that by
07:07that point, FIFA was such a behemoth that it was an honour to be on the cover, says
07:11author Price.
07:12You see, players debating their stats on the game and checking their likenesses, but although
07:16being on the cover wasn't quite the ballon d'or, it was one of the ultimate achievements
07:20as a footballer to say you'd made it.
07:23What a power that is for a video game.
07:25But the game wasn't just about the on-pitch stars.
07:28Over the years, getting on the FIFA playlist became a huge deal for musicians of all statuses,
07:32and was credited with elevating the careers of several artists.
07:37Songs became synonymous with individual editions of the game, with the mere mention of certain
07:41tracks enough to automatically transport some players back to a particular year spent bashing
07:46controllers.
07:47When you think back to FIFA 98 and having Blur's Song 2 on repeat, I loved that song
07:52because of FIFA, Price reminisces.
07:54And there are so many people who say the same about different songs.
07:57One of the best stories was that EA Sports basically discovered Avril Lavigne.
08:01One of her first gigs was in EA Sports' canteen trying to impress the music guy they'd hired,
08:07because they'd realised having a soundtrack just elevated the authenticity and feeling
08:11of the game.
08:12So they did this deal to put Complicated into FIFA 2003.
08:16The Song 2 deal was rather more unconventional.
08:19Sean Ratcliffe, who became the head of EA Sports Europe, called Blur just as they were
08:23about to go on stage in Australia.
08:25He said to them, we want Song 2, what can we give you?
08:29Damon Albarn replied, we've got more money than we know what to do with, but what we
08:33can't get is tickets to the World Cup final.
08:35EA Sports could, at the time, obviously get those, so they secured four tickets for the
08:401998 final, and the deal was done.
08:43A relationship with Robbie Williams sprang up for FIFA 2000, when he was interviewed
08:47on his way out of that year's Brit Awards, having just won Best British Single, Best
08:51British Video and Best British Male Solo Artist.
08:54Asked what are you going to do now, he replied, I'm going home to play FIFA 99.
08:59EA immediately contacted his people to ask if that was true, and when they were told
09:03it was, a meeting was set up to discuss a relationship.
09:06Williams' song, It's Only Us, then became the theme music for the 2000 version in exchange
09:11for his beloved Port Vale being included in the game.
09:15FIFA may have had the star quality, but that didn't always guarantee the game's position
09:19as the number one football sim.
09:21A contender to that crown came in the form of Pro Evolution Soccer, or PES, created by
09:26Japanese development company Konami.
09:29While PES couldn't come close to matching FIFA for its licensing, it's affectionately
09:33remembered for team names such as Merseyside Red for Liverpool and players like Roberto
09:37Larkos instead of Roberto Carlos, its gameplay was considered to more than have the edge
09:43on that of FIFA.
09:44PES felt like football, whereas FIFA felt a bit more kick and run back then, according
09:49to Steve Merritt who ran PES' PR in the UK between 2002 and 2019.
09:54FIFA was very lightweight at the time and PES had physicality to it.
09:58It was a slower game, but that made it feel more precise and tactical.
10:01There were also little things like the way players received the ball.
10:04In the early games, when you had Gaza or Beckham in it, there was a slight difference
10:08to the way they played, whereas all the FIFA players were just identikit.
10:11Konami, of course, weren't the only ones to notice the difference.
10:14I shouldn't really tell you this, but during lunch times when we had a break, we'd play
10:18PES, we wouldn't actually play FIFA, confides Stone.
10:22You have to acknowledge it, otherwise you're not dealing with reality, and the reality
10:25was that PES was an outstanding game.
10:28We had to pull our socks up and say, what can we learn from this?
10:32In its heyday, PES was consistently selling between 7 and 9.5 million copies for each
10:36edition and developing a huge following, particularly in the UK.
10:41The glory days of PES were overseen by a guy called Sebas Takatsuka, and he was the guy
10:45who took it from PlayStation to PlayStation 2, but he left around the time it went to
10:50PlayStation 3, explains Merritt.
10:52PS3 was an awful time for PES.
10:54They brought in this new development team that claimed they were going for realism,
10:57but all they were really going for was realism of faces.
11:00Around the time of PES 2007, it became this really tedious game where all the midfield
11:05nuance and individuality was taken for pace.
11:08That drop in quality coincided with FIFA doing what Konami had been doing before, so it was
11:13almost as though they swapped ethos.
11:15Opposition now vanquished, EA Sports continued to develop FIFA.
11:19Advances in technology only made innovation more possible.
11:22They toyed with cult spin-off FIFA Street in 2005, before rebooting it to more success
11:27in 2012.
11:29They brought in FIFA's player career mode where you could play as one individual, and
11:33added another dimension with the Journey trilogy, an immersive story focused on fictional starlet
11:38Alex Hunter.
11:39The piece de resistance though came with the creation of FIFA Ultimate Team, where gamers
11:44collected packs of players to build a world-beating team from scratch.
11:48Ultimate Team revolutionised the gaming experience, becoming a cash cow for FIFA thanks to its
11:53in-game purchases and introduction of a new fantasy aspect.
11:57The advent of super-fast broadband all over the world also mushroomed the online play
12:01modes, with Ultimate Team becoming the perfect grounding for players from around the globe
12:06to test their skills against others.
12:08It became the mode of choice for the booming market of professional FIFA competitions,
12:12with football clubs recruiting gamers to represent them in lucrative events.
12:17The prize money on offer started to run into six figures for the bigger tournaments, streamed
12:21by millions of eSports fans, and even broadcast on TV by Sky.
12:26It became a big business, and while there were stories of casual FIFA players upsetting
12:31the order to beat the pros at top events, elite online competition became principally
12:36the realm of well-backed teams packed with full-time players.
12:40That wasn't the case when David Bytheway, the first British FIFA player to sign to a
12:43professional club when he joined Wolfsburg in 2016, was plucked from his bedroom in Wolverhampton
12:48to play the game on the world stage.
12:51I went to the Interactive World Cup that was hosted in Brazil in 2014, Bytheway explains.
12:56The experience was amazing.
12:58Me and a friend flew out to Rio, landed at 6am, but couldn't go to bed because the
13:02FIFA reps said there was filming to do on Copacabana Beach.
13:05That night we were taken to a rooftop bar above the beach when all of a sudden, the
13:09crew of Match of the Day came in.
13:11One moment we're just sitting, looking out, then we turn around, and Gary Lineker, Alan
13:15Shearer and the lot of them are walking towards us.
13:17The final itself was held on top of Sugarloaf Mountain and the Brazilian Ronaldo was there.
13:22He came to shake my hand before the final and wish me good luck.
13:25It was crazy.
13:26After 30 years though, the relationship between FIFA and EA Sports is over.
13:31Unable, as they were, to agree a new deal to extend their partnership following a breakdown
13:35in negotiations.
13:36EA Sports FC24 retains all of the gameplay and licenses of the previous games, just without
13:43the FIFA name.
13:44The governing body says it plans to release its own game next year to now rival EA.
13:49I'm so proud of my ex-colleagues from EA who said to FIFA, our game is bigger than
13:55you, and while we'd love to work with you, the rights exist in the local leagues, Stone
13:59Tells 442.
14:00FIFA are now back to 1993, where they have no rights to anything apart from the World
14:06Cup.
14:07While EA Sports' game will broadly stay the same, the divorce brought the curtain
14:11down on one of football's most iconic partnerships, ending an era that played such a big part
14:17in so many people's lives.
14:18It's an era that may not have happened at all had EA's sceptical bigwigs not been
14:24swayed 30 years ago.
14:26Soccer?
14:27What is that?