The reboot is being handled by EA Canada, and their main mission is to make sure that FIFA Street is distinctive from the more traditional FIFA title released by EA Sports. FIFA Street line producer Sid Misra stated, ”Differentiation is part of the difficulty of this project. Since we built the game with the FIFA engine underneath, we get a lot good stuff, but at the same time, we need to make sure our game is more than just FIFA with walls (around the pitch).”
While the game will be using the traditional FIFA engine, their main focus is on the core mechanics, trying to make it a more ”robust” game than its professional counterpart. For example, the dribbling and passing will have more impulsiveness, and have a little flair to it - but still maintain realism thanks to FIFA 12’s improved player collision and dribbling systems.
”For us to make a good street football game, we had to have an engine flexible enough to do a physical game like they play in London or a stylish game like they play in Rio.We think that the things people can do in street football already are pretty amazing. If we can capture that properly, by definition FIFA Street will be a more arcadey game (than FIFA 12),” promised Misra.
The other barrier to FIFA Street titles, even the ones that sold well like FIFA Street 1 and 2, was the look of the game, as well as the oversimplified controls. Misra states that EA Canada is aiming for a more natural look, and making the game more realistic while remaining accessible. In other words, the game needs to be football first, and arcade game second. ”Basically, they (previous dev teams) were trying to build a street football game without a football engine underneath it,” he admitted.
FIFA Street will be released this March for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
