FIFA 21 was released at the beginning of October 2020. By the end of that month, EA had announced a restructuring of their global esports competition, hoping to move on from their underwhelming performances on the competitive side of the game series over the last few iterations and set them on the path to sustainable views and revenue. It has always been a global bestseller. Despite there being a pool of professionals competing for prize pools, casual players didn’t have much interest in the broadcasts. Fans of the title tended to see the game as a representation of the traditional, competitive football (or soccer), rather than as a competitive esports.
Annual Releases
A natural hindrance to a series’ esports is annual releases. The most popular esports have stable titles which have patch-updates and new content released as expansion packs, rather than developing and releasing a whole new game. The differences are subtle but significant. The trouble is that the developers routinely seek to replicate the ‘real’ sport with improved game physics, animations, AI intelligence, and other such gameplay tweaks. As such, every year there is a settling in period where players must adapt to new dynamics which can significantly change how the game plays out. For instance, there tends to be a cycle of how effective pace is on game modes, which means users will have to overhaul their gameplay to maximise the chance of success (and minimise the opponent’s) because passing, dribbling, and defending tendencies change dramatically as a result.
Call of Duty professionals have the same thing to contend with – though they have to deal with two developers producing games on a cycle (Treyarch one year and Infinity Ward the following). MLG have invested heavily in COD to produce a competitive and impressive esports scene with high production value broadcasts and coverage enabled by having a franchised league, similar to the NBA and NFL. EA have yet to commit to this idea. A reason might be that FIFA’s esports is solo play, not team.
Begin to Increase Esports Exposure
FIFA 21 has major esports organizations involved. Team Vitality, for instance, are one of the biggest orgs in the world, with teams across multiple titles – League of Legends, Rocket League, CS:GO – and backed by Tej Kohli – a philanthropist with impact investing ventures in biotech and AI – and they regularly contract FIFA professionals to represent them. In recent FIFA releases, esports organizations have had their jerseys represented in-game, with users able to don their kit in the Ultimate Team game mode. There has been a push towards exposing the esports to a broader audience.
EA have opted for a celebrity-focussed approach to tournaments. Professional FIFA players team up with professional footballers to play against each other. They used this format for the FIFA Global Series preseason. Trent Alexander-Arnold – the Liverpool FC star – and Fnatic’s Tekkz won the final tournament of preseason, the FIFA 21 challenge, which became EA Sports’ most watched event ever, This bodes well for the future. There is actionable interest. The new structure will see regional tournaments across the globe for Ultimate Team players to compete in to qualify for the FIFA eWorld Cup. If EA commit to developing the esports, then it could begin to rival the traditional sports as a genuine alternative.
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