Why is FIFA the most successful football title in the gaming industry?

MWEB GameZone writes: One of the reasons for the continued success of the FIFA franchise is EA Sports' partnerships with real world football organisations like the Premier League. Teaming up with the giants of soccer enables EA Sports to tap into their expertise and resources - thus making every FIFA game an authentic example of electronic sports in football."

[plut0nash]

FIFA is the COD of the football genre :)

[ArchangelMike]

It's because it was the first to have fully licened players, gear and venues.

[ZodTheRipper]

^This
It's not like the game itself is oh so great. The licenses and transfer updates sell it every year. Kinda sad if you think about it, CoD at least has something new every year.

[Yi-Long]

Well.... PES USED to be the better game (PES4/5), but since about FIFA09, FIFA has not only had the important licenses, but also the better gameplay and graphics.

FIFA is king because PES dropped the ball.

I'm hoping PES will one day be great again, but FIFA has been very good the last couple of years as well. Although the last-gen version of FIFA14 was terrible and frustrating. Next-gen version was much much better.

[pompombrum]

^^^ This..EA was slowly but surely improving the Fifa series each year and nothing makes die hard fans look at alternatives like a game so laggy, players teleport all over the place.

[affrogamer]

plus they copied most of the things that made PES the better game during the Playstation 1 and 2 era!

[Volkama]

Pretty much the only alternative (PES) pushes for the same kind of experience, but is inferior in just about every way. Visually weaker, less featured, generally unlicensed, worse general presentation.

Personally I'd like a football game that places less emphasis on replicating what real football looks like, and more emphasis on the fact that it is a game, if that makes sense.

Players in FIFA obey the laws of physics well and the AI reacts to the immediate environment very realistically, but they are not at all fun to control.

[ZodTheRipper]

I think PES13 was the best football game of the last few years gameplay-wise. PES14 was crap but FIFA has lots of flaws as well. I was so annoyed by FIFA14 that I sold it after a few weeks.

"Personally I'd like a football game that places less emphasis on replicating what real football looks like, and more emphasis on the fact that it is a game, if that makes sense."

Then FIFA is your game. PES is a much better 'simulation' of the sport itself, FIFA feels kinda dumbed down in areas like player differences and strategy. But overall it always was a much better, fleshed out 'game', mainly due to the licenses.

[Volkama]

Nah FIFA isn't gameplay-focused. It does everything it possibly can to match up to watching football. That is subtly different to being a sim though, it's simulating the sport from a spectator perspective.

Honestly it does an astonishingly good job of it too. It just isn't fun to me. I don't want players to be governed by their weight and momentum to the point that I feel like I can't turn when I want to. I don't want to "tussle" with an opponent. I don't care how well my AI team mates try to spring the offside trap of my AI opponents.

Just let me sprint around and throw in some wild tackles and outrageous bicycle kicks. Concentrate on what makes "fun" games fun, and inject some of that into my football. Responsive controls would be a good starting point.

[schmoe]

lowest common denominator - should be full contact or at least have player wielding crowbars

[GabeSA]

For me the key has been the licence for players, clubs and stadiums. The game itself offers a greater feeling of realism (as close as can be expected). Sure it has flaws, just like every other game, but the career mode is great, and if you are a genuine football fan, playing for your favourite team is great, or representing your country. With the addition of Ultimate Team, there was a unique gameplay change to the management mode, even with the standard management mode still being available. Sure I would tweak the game ina few places, add more lighting and colour to stadiums and crowds, give a bit more emphasis on player dynamic i.e. responses to being tackled etc, and maybe some more realism to the referees and linesmen (they NEVER make mistakes). But the key thing is EA's FIFA title has always tried to improve each year, whilst they cant add too much changes, there is the sense that you can enjoy this title for a year with its current dynamic without feeling its getting stale. I am still playing FIFA14 almost 1 year later. Having played PES a few times, I never felt it was a formidable challenger to EA's FIFA in the football genre.

[stavrami-mk2]

I honestly have no clue :-/

[english_learner]

Fifa is so popular because online is scripted.
You can have no clue how to play football and still win online matches.
This is why casuals love this game.

[jp_footy2]

Well said and your name is probably wellsaid aswell.

[iistuii]

It's funny, I hear this all the time. You call it scripted, I call it bad loser. It's funny, nobody mentions scripted when they score the last minute winner, only when they concede it.

[berndogskate]

Ultimate team, nuff said the digitalcrack of fifa, ea are rolling in theloot from this look it up, no wonder they can buyout licenses

[DxTrixterz]

Licenses.

[darren_poolies]

Well there are only like two football games.

[700p]

Because soccer has alot of fans......

[iistuii]

It's not just licenses, c'mon. If PES was anywhere near Fifa in gameplay & graphics I'd buy it & get an option patch from one of the hundreds that are made by fans each year. The fact is PES got arrogant, dropped the ball & Fifa kept plugging away & now they have a bloody good game on their hands. Could they release a patch for the changes instead of bringing out a new game ? Of course, but it's business & look at the sales. If it wasn't any good do you all think it would be getting the massive sales each year. Can't wait for Fifa 15 on PS4, it's looking better than ever.

[Jdoki]

Official License
Lack of serious competition beyond PES
Marketing weight of EA
It's a decent game and people get hooked on the yearly updates

[iceman06]

I think you COMPLETELY nailed it on this comment. Especially when you mentioned Marketing weight of EA. That alone has put its sports games in the "must have" category when some of them don't belong. It doesn't matter how good the competition's game is, as long as EA can control the narrative, via HUGE marketing, the competition will be over-shadowed. PES 2013 was the best soccer (oops...football) experience since the early PES days. But, it didn't have many licenses and I don't think I even saw more than one commercial for it in the US...and that was during the Champions League (which was well after its release).
As you said, it's not that FIFA is bad. It's just that it has licenses, financial weight, popularity, and very little competition to keep it on top.

[Spore_777]

Licences.

[cfc83]

Anyone else always getting online fifa problems. Gravity pulls etc ?

[ps360s]

They need to improve the online more, make it like what you get with games like COD,Halo ect (matchmaking ect) and the lag...makes it impossible to play with other people with their lags!(difficult to play passes,scoring ect)

[S2Killinit]

because they acquired sole rights to player's names, thats all.

[Smitty2020]

Iv gone off fifa it's the same every year am waiting for pes to knock fifa off the top to wake them up abit

[Master-H]

Because what other football games are out there ? Winning Eleven/PES used to better in the ps2/1 era , but Konami dropped the ball big time last gen.

[lord zaid]

This discussion is a bitof a non-starter. FIFA the video game, succeeds because it reflects the real world game. It really is that simple.