A date always circled in red by football fans and media alike – the day of the annual FIFA video game release.
For someone who over the last few years has played each of the games through the franchise, when I first put the new game disc in, I asked myself: ‘What’s changed for this year?’, as FIFA 17, 18, and 19 proved to be not much more than an update to the football squads around the continents.
It always made me laugh to read all the developer notes about how EA strives towards balancing the gameplay with ‘ground-breaking and innovative’ changes to the football experience, yet the previous games on the new Frostbite engine felt like the content that was introduced in FIFA 18 and 19 could have just been updated into FIFA 17. But that’s another story.
Much debate begins over the new FIFA title before the game even hits the shelves. Adverts for the game showcasing the best upcoming talent in outrageously flashy football training drills generate much excitement, especially among the younger audiences. The first topic of discussion that starts arguments within the Instagram comments section is about the ‘player ratings’, of how a player such as Virgil van Dijk should have a 99 DEF rating as he apparently cannot be dribbled past, or how the Tottenham Hotspur average rating should have fallen to four-and-a-half stars to reflect their current diabolical away form in the Premier League.
While all these opinions are either hilarious to read or carry some factual weight, one thing that does become apparent throughout the FIFA titles is their inaccuracy to update the ‘live form’ service accordingly. EA is a publisher that ‘prides’ itself in its commitment to keeping its ‘live service’ sport titles such as FIFA, Madden and NHL, up-to-date with the current world events, such as injuries to players, a dip in form impacting the ratings of some or even all of the players in the squad, to name a few.
While this alone might be a minor issue to pick up upon, ratings in FIFA over the years seem to have called into question how much EA pay attention to the performances of clubs in the Premier League and EFL. For example, if I return to my previous example of Tottenham Hotspur, there has been very minimal impact to the ratings, (which are representative of players’ live ‘form guide’), despite a disastrous collapse in form in both the Premier League, (a humiliating 3-0 loss to Brighton and Hove Albion, a 1-0 loss at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to relegation-threatened Newcastle United), and a calamitous start to the Champions League group stage, sitting only on one point and a goal difference of minus five, after two games.
For a while, a stigma has been floating around the community about there being a select group of clubs within the game that are immune to taking a hit to their ratings no matter how dire the real-world situation is at the select football clubs. Clubs such as Real Madrid, whose team are in a behind-the-scenes ‘changing room war’, epitomised by Gareth Bale and manager Zinedine Zidane, and have made a dismal start to La Liga and the Champions League this season. Despite this, no notable change to their statistics has been found or is evident immediately.
As much as I’d want to state these findings as fact with some evidence shown to support this statement, I have no knowledge of the inner workings of EA. But nevertheless, for a triple-A publisher that is constantly attempting to market the positives of ‘live-service’ experiences within their most beloved and financially lucrative franchises, while at the same time making minimal changes to the gameplay experience, a more concise and accurate representation of current world events within the world of sport would elevate the authenticity that FIFA so desperately wishes to create so that player’s engagement is long and enjoyable.
But hey, at least the Forest ratings are up and accurate, from an increase of three points on average for all three major statistics on the team selection menu, due to only one loss this season, which I’m still buzzing about. So, here I am, sitting at my desk grinding career mode with the team already in the Premier League, because for all the criticism the FIFA franchise receives, it doesn’t stop the modern-day football fan sinking hours into the grinding gameplay and rage-quitting moments online.
By Sonny Reed
Photo Credit: dronepicr via Wikipedia