FIFA (video game series)
FIFA is a football simulation video game franchise. Between 1993 and 2022 it was developed by EA Vancouver and EA Romania and published by EA Sports. After a four year hiatus, it is set to return in 2026 with two games: FIFA Heroes, developed and published by ENVER and a currently untitled FIFA game that will be made by Netflix.
As of 2011, the FIFA franchise has been localised into 18 languages and available in 51 countries. Listed in Guinness World Records as the best-selling sports video game franchise in the world, the FIFA series has sold more than 325 million copies as of 2021. On 10 May 2022, it was announced that EA and FIFA's partnership of 30 years would come to an end upon the termination of their licensing agreement, making FIFA 23 the last entry to the franchise under the FIFA name. As a successor to the FIFA series, EA launched the EA Sports FC franchise, with EA Sports FC 24 being the first installment under the new name.
Football video games such as Tehkan World Cup, Sensible Soccer, Kick Off and Match Day had been developed since the late 1980s, and were already competitive in the games market when EA Sports announced a football game as the next addition to their EA Sports label. When the series began with FIFA International Soccer on the Sega Mega Drive in late 1993, it was notable for being the first to have an official license from FIFA, the world governing body of football. The main series has been complemented by additional installments based on single major tournaments, such as the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA European Football Championship, as well as a series of football management titles. Since the 1990s, the franchise's main competitor has been Konami's eFootball series.
EA's last release featured Kylian Mbappé, who appeared on the front cover of the series for the three consecutive years between FIFA 21 and FIFA 23, as the face of the franchise. Chelsea Women forward Sam Kerr appears alongside Mbappé on the ultimate edition, becoming the first female footballer in franchise history to do so. In EA Sports FC 24, the inaugural installment of the succeeding EA Sports FC franchise, Erling Haaland appeared on the covers of both the standard and ultimate editions. Previous cover stars include Eden Hazard, who was the face of FIFA 20, as well as Cristiano Ronaldo, the cover star of FIFA 18 and FIFA 19. Lionel Messi appeared on four straight covers from FIFA 13 to FIFA 16. Wayne Rooney starred on seven covers of the series: every game from FIFA 06 to FIFA 12. Ronaldinho appeared alongside Rooney on four of these, and he also appeared on the cover of FIFA Football 2004, FIFA Street and FIFA Street 3. Since the release of FIFA Mobile in 2016, midfielder Kevin de Bruyne and forwards Marco Reus, Hazard, Ronaldo, Neymar, Paulo Dybala, Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior have appeared on the cover.
The cover star of the game usually tends to have the highest OVR rating.
FIFA 12 holds the record for the "fastest selling sports game ever" with more than 3.2 million games sold and more than $186 million generated at retail in its first week of release. The franchise's final release under EA Sports, FIFA 23, was released worldwide on 27 September 2022. It is available for multiple gaming systems, including the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
History
While FIFA 95 did not add much other than the ability to play with club teams, FIFA 96 pushed the boundaries. For the first time with real player names by obtaining the FIFPro license, the PlayStation, PC, 32X and Sega Saturn versions used EA's "Virtual Stadium" engine, with 2D sprite players moving around a real-time 3D stadium. FIFA 97 improved on this with polygonal models for players and added an indoor soccer mode, but an early pinnacle was reached with FIFA: Road to World Cup 98. This version featured much improved graphics, a complete World Cup with qualifying rounds and refined gameplay. Months later, World Cup 98 was EA's first officially licensed tournament game.John Motson was the first commentator for the FIFA series, and has worked alongside Ally McCoist, Andy Gray, Des Lynam, Mark Lawrenson and Chris Waddle. Motson first joined the franchise for FIFA 96; he and McCoist were replaced by Gray and Clive Tyldesley for FIFA 06 but later returned for FIFA Manager 08. Martin Tyler was the default commentator for the FIFA series from 2006 to 2020, alongside Andy Gray between 2006 and 2010 and Alan Smith from 2011 to 2020. Derek Rae and Lee Dixon appear in FIFA 19 as commentators for UEFA competitions, and alternate with Tyler and Smith in all competitions in FIFA 20. Rae and Dixon became the sole English-language commentators in FIFA 21, replacing Tyler and Smith. In FIFA 22 and FIFA 23, Stewart Robson serves as Derek Rae's co-commentator, replacing Dixon. Guy Mowbray and Sue Smith were introduced as a new commentary duo in EA Sports FC 24, alternating with Derek Rae and Stewart Robson.
FIFA games have been met with some minor criticism; such as improvements each game features over its predecessor. As the console market expanded, FIFA was challenged directly by other titles, most notably Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer series. The rivalry between both franchises since the 1990s has been considered the "greatest rivalry" in the history of sports video games. While FIFA initially had a more "arcade-style" approach, PES was more of a football simulation video game series with "faster-paced tactical play" and more varied emergent gameplay, which led to PES rivaling FIFA in sales during the 2000s. EA responded by borrowing gameplay elements from PES in order to improve FIFA, which led to FIFA pulling ahead commercially by a significant margin in the early 2010s. Both FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer have a large following, but FIFA sales were rising by as much as 23 percent year-on-year in the early 2010s.
By 2000, the FIFA series had sold more than units worldwide, making it the best-selling association football video game series. In 2010, the FIFA series had sold more than 100 million copies, making it the best-selling sports video game franchise in the world and the most profitable EA Sports title. With FIFA 12 selling 3.2 million copies in the first week after its 27 September North American debut in 2011, EA Sports dubbed it "the most successful launch in EA Sports history".
In 2012, EA Sports signed Lionel Messi to the FIFA franchise, luring him away from the competitor Pro Evolution Soccer. Messi's likeness was then immediately placed on the cover of FIFA Street. In 2013, the Spanish professional women's footballer Vero Boquete started a petition on Change.org, which called upon Electronic Arts to introduce female players in the FIFA series. The petition attracted 20,000 signatures in 24 hours. FIFA 16, released on 25 September 2015, included female national teams.
In 2018, Steve Boxer of The Guardian called FIFA 18 "the slickest, most polished and by far the most popular football game around" and "football games' equivalent of the Premier League". He praised the game's FIFA Ultimate Team, which "encourages you to purchase Panini-sticker-like player packs to build up a dream team", adding the series has "an excellent Journey mode that lets you control an aspiring pro and build him up to an international superstar, and a Career mode that lets you control your favourite team on and off the field." The sixth best-selling video game franchise, by 2021, the FIFA series had sold more than 325 million copies.
The latest installments in the series contain many exclusively licensed leagues including leagues and teams from around the world, including the German Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, English Premier League and EFL Championship, Italian Serie A and Serie B, Spanish La Liga and La Liga 2, French Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, Portuguese Primeira Liga, Turkish Süper Lig, Dutch Eredivisie, Scottish Premiership, the Swiss Super League, Russian Premier League, Polish Ekstraklasa, Mexican Liga MX, American Major League Soccer, South Korean K-League, Japanese J1 League, the Chinese Super League, Saudi Professional League, Australian A-League, Chilean Primera División, Brazilian Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Argentine Liga Profesional de Fútbol, allowing the use of real leagues, clubs and player names and likenesses within the games. Popular clubs from around the world, including some teams from Greece, the Indian Super League, Ukraine and South Africa, are also included, without those nations' entire leagues. They are available in the "Rest of World" section.