EA Sports boss Peter Moore has spoken about the importance of FIFA's online service, as ambitious plans are underway to bring the football series to a fully networked, disc-less future.
Speaking of the success FIFA has had over rival Pro Evolution Soccer, Moore was keen to stress that his team "never thinks of them as being in the rear view mirror," and that Konami producer Shingo 'Seabass' Takatsuka's team in Japan "are an excellent outfit and they were a really strong leader in this space just four or five years ago, so they’re not a team to be trifled with. We take the competition seriously, we enjoy it and they make our job a lot more fun."
Moore admitted that PES has had trouble catching up to FIFA in recent years, and pinned some of the reason down to the solid online mode. "The sticky factor of online being strong helps enormously. That’s the challenge PES faces right now, because if you and your mates are all buying FIFA and you all play online (and we’re at an 80 per cent connect rate now) it makes it more difficult for the second place guy to disrupt that."
With that in mind, the exec explained to MCV that the publisher has even bigger plans for the online space, even going so far as to ditch annual disc-based updates to its sports titles and instead relying on a persistent, ever-evolving online release.
"Football for most of us is pretty constant. This year there was, what, a 15 day off-season. And even then we were thinking about it and reading about it. That’s the space football occupies in our lives and that’s how we’ve got to look at it," he said.
"We need to provide that persistent world, maybe sometimes powered by discs, maybe on social networks, or the cloud or whatever. That's the team's vision - that no matter where you are or what you're using, there’s a FIFA experience to be had, it all links together, it lifts your level up and identifies your status.
"Personally I still think there'll be discs five years from now. But generally yes, of course, I think there will come a time when FIFA is less a disc that you wait for in late September/early October, and more something that we provide 365 days a year."
Speaking of the success FIFA has had over rival Pro Evolution Soccer, Moore was keen to stress that his team "never thinks of them as being in the rear view mirror," and that Konami producer Shingo 'Seabass' Takatsuka's team in Japan "are an excellent outfit and they were a really strong leader in this space just four or five years ago, so they’re not a team to be trifled with. We take the competition seriously, we enjoy it and they make our job a lot more fun."
Moore admitted that PES has had trouble catching up to FIFA in recent years, and pinned some of the reason down to the solid online mode. "The sticky factor of online being strong helps enormously. That’s the challenge PES faces right now, because if you and your mates are all buying FIFA and you all play online (and we’re at an 80 per cent connect rate now) it makes it more difficult for the second place guy to disrupt that."
With that in mind, the exec explained to MCV that the publisher has even bigger plans for the online space, even going so far as to ditch annual disc-based updates to its sports titles and instead relying on a persistent, ever-evolving online release.
"Football for most of us is pretty constant. This year there was, what, a 15 day off-season. And even then we were thinking about it and reading about it. That’s the space football occupies in our lives and that’s how we’ve got to look at it," he said.
"We need to provide that persistent world, maybe sometimes powered by discs, maybe on social networks, or the cloud or whatever. That's the team's vision - that no matter where you are or what you're using, there’s a FIFA experience to be had, it all links together, it lifts your level up and identifies your status.
"Personally I still think there'll be discs five years from now. But generally yes, of course, I think there will come a time when FIFA is less a disc that you wait for in late September/early October, and more something that we provide 365 days a year."
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Comments
realvictory 14 Oct 2010 12:19
1/1
Personally, I don't think football online is something people are attached to, it's just a nice bonus - the only reason it would matter is if your friend buys FIFA and plays online, which would persuade you to buy it, too - however, if it's someone you already know, you'd probably rather play in the same room at the same time.
What the key issue is in my opinion is that the first PES of this generation was less than what people expected overall, whereas FIFA 08 matched what people expected - or at least was an alternative for those who were disappointed with PES - and people remember the first more strongly. I don't really think people are loyal to a brand, though, I think enough of a change in PES does have the potential to change peoples' minds (FIFA and PES fans are loyal to football, that's all).
I genuinely think that where it's gone "wrong" for PES is that their additions have been substance-oriented, rather than something that's instantly attention-grabbing. With smaller, (what seems like) incremental changes, on the other hand, it will take longer for people (any given person) to switch brands.
What the key issue is in my opinion is that the first PES of this generation was less than what people expected overall, whereas FIFA 08 matched what people expected - or at least was an alternative for those who were disappointed with PES - and people remember the first more strongly. I don't really think people are loyal to a brand, though, I think enough of a change in PES does have the potential to change peoples' minds (FIFA and PES fans are loyal to football, that's all).
I genuinely think that where it's gone "wrong" for PES is that their additions have been substance-oriented, rather than something that's instantly attention-grabbing. With smaller, (what seems like) incremental changes, on the other hand, it will take longer for people (any given person) to switch brands.