FIFA 12 launched with the Football Club feature, offering challenges to fans based off real world match results. It makes the game ”very different” months after.
”The game you buy today is going to be very different to the game you buy six months from now, based on what’s happened in the real world, based on the challenges we provide, based on who you play with, what your club is,” said EVP Andrew Wilson.
”That has certainly added to the feeling that sports games are really innovating, and that’s really what drives year-round purchases. Right now, I think sports is a leader in the industry in terms of delivering a live service that actually changes day-to-day.”
Thanks to the intense fanaticism sports viewers have with their teams, FIFA 12’s Football Club will best other online games with ease, believes Wilson.
”The relationship they have with their club, and the relationship they share with other fans of that club, are some of the strongest relationships in their lives… To re-enact that reality through interactive entertainment drives a level of engagement that most other genres can’t deliver,” he stated.
These types of online engagements with sports fans could eventually threaten the dominance of multiplayer shooters hogging all the bandwidth.
”Most of us haven’t been in Afghanistan with an M16. We want to relate to that, but for me, personally, the relationship to sports is much, much stronger.”
”First-person shooters are great games, they’re great escapes, but the longevity behind the relationship with your team and other fans is exponentially stronger.”
Has FIFA 12 and its Football Club been fuelling your inner sports fan? Will the millions of devoted football supporters at home outnumber wannabe soldiers online? FIFA 12 released on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC September 27th in the US, 29th and 30th in Europe.
