The Situation

After playing the FIFA game series since 1998, it has long been a tradition of mine to buy and play the games each and every year, with a collection now spanning over 20 years. However, this year, FIFA 22, I won’t be purchasing, as I have lost all interest in the series, now preferring the most in-depth Football Manager. Why am I bothering to write about this you may ask? And you’re right, there’s no need, except I think a real discussion needs to happen around the exploitation of it’s fans as the game is becoming increasingly more expensive, and essentially is now a pay-to-win game, which across video games is often criticised, however it does seem like FIFA often ‘get away’ with criticism for this, despite as many parents and non-gamers question, why do you need to buy it every year for the same thing, and honestly I now understand that comment.

The Stats

FIFA 21 sold around 1.5million digital copies in it’s first week, and that number will be considerably higher when we look at the total physical and digital sales in the whole year. Priced at £60 on release, this cost is around £10 higher than the copies released 5-10 years prior. Additionally, the cost to players doesn’t end there, as the Ultimate Team game mode offers players the chance to improve their team, by buying packs priced anywhere between 50p up to £15 for some special released ‘Ultimate Packs’ players are for lack of a better word ‘gambling’ to get a digital player into their team. This feature has been criticised by gambling charities, as it encourages behaviours in young people who struggle often to see the risk of spending real money for the chance at a top player. Additionally, FIFA don’t offer any warning or real permission to do this, and instead often encourage this behaviour by releasing special limited packs such as the Ultimate Pack. This is where my real issue comes in, as at the start of Ultimate Team, it was about working your way up to the top, rather than buying it with real money. Some players have been known to go into the thousands of pounds in the hope of getting the ‘Ultimate Team’. FIFA make millions of pounds each and every week, and with the majority of players using the game mode, this allows the company to almost double their revenue each and every season, as each year brings a new edition of the game, and a player starting from scratch on their lucrative game mode.

The Solution

So, overall as you may have read, my big issue is with the focus on the buy-to-win element of Ultimate Team. This has been the focus for so long, that I cannot get enjoyment from any other feature, whether it be pro-clubs or Career Mode, they are so lacking in depth and enjoyment that it all reverts back to Ultimate Team. Of course, the option still remains to play that mode without spending a penny, however to reach the top of this game mode, real money must be spent, it’s as simple as that.

With that in mind, my solutions are limited, as I am not naïve enough to think EA Sports will lose their significant financial benefit of selling packs, however potentially if this is their preferred route, could they not reduce the cost of the game as we have seen from Pro Evo’s rebrand. Understanding their fans will pay for updates rather than physical copies, they have built almost a subscription based model for their players. With FIFA losing it’s big competitor in the market, they hold a monopoly on the football game front. An alternative could be they invest more in the other game modes, with their managerial option so far behind the Football Manager framework, there is a vast difference in quality, meanwhile the actual gameplay has also been criticised heavily by recurring players. I understand it is not easy to develop a game so quickly and drastically in just a year, so why not have a year break, and make it bi-annually so they can make it worth the investment of the player. There are plenty of improvements to be made, however while they are raking in the few pounds each week from Ultimate Team players alongside the now £70 fee for the game upon release, with an expectation of spending £500+ on a next-gen console to make the game look half-decent, well unfortunately, that’s me done, and I’ll sink my time to the £25 copy of Football Manager which is much, much better.