USA Challenging to Biggest FIFA Fanbase
As gamers get to "add value" any way they want
EA Sports relationship with the famously loveable FIFA organisation has resulted in the company's biggest selling sports series (the 'franchise' of course, belongs to FIFA itself). It's a game beloved of every country in the world except the USA and Canada, right? Wrong.
According to Andrew Wilson EA Sports' vice-president, "We aren't releasing territory specific data just yet, but we had 2.2m sell-through in week one.
"What's interesting about North America is that it's one of our fastest-growing territories for Fifa and it has been for a few years since the 2006 World Cup. It's actually, right now, challenging as the biggest territory for Fifa sales."
Say what? What about Dear Old Blighty?
"The UK is still the strongest, but the USA is up there. Now, in Australia, we've seen tremendous growth since 2006, mainly because Australia was in that World Cup."
That's something of a relief.
Then Mr Wilson goes off on one, "I think the future of the sports sim is the fact that you can choose how you want to play it. That we allow you to play on any platform, at any time, at any price, anyway you want. Some players are all about the manager mode. Some players want the online head-to-head. The future for us lies in not compartmentalising any of the experiences, but to build a world where players can add value to their gaming experiences however they like."
That sounds a little arse-ways round from this bench. Surely it's a company's role to add value. Still, Mr Wilson has more great ideas, "You watch TV on-demand and you select the music you want on iTunes based exactly on what sort of entertainment you're after and not what a TV company said you had to watch, or a record company forced you to listen to on a disc. I think that's the future for us."
Now, don't get us wrong, choice is good. However, the idea that a TV or Record Executive doesn't choose the content that you get to then choose a timing for is, well frankly, patronising in the extreme.
Read the whole thing at The Guardian.
According to Andrew Wilson EA Sports' vice-president, "We aren't releasing territory specific data just yet, but we had 2.2m sell-through in week one.
"What's interesting about North America is that it's one of our fastest-growing territories for Fifa and it has been for a few years since the 2006 World Cup. It's actually, right now, challenging as the biggest territory for Fifa sales."
Say what? What about Dear Old Blighty?
"The UK is still the strongest, but the USA is up there. Now, in Australia, we've seen tremendous growth since 2006, mainly because Australia was in that World Cup."
That's something of a relief.
Then Mr Wilson goes off on one, "I think the future of the sports sim is the fact that you can choose how you want to play it. That we allow you to play on any platform, at any time, at any price, anyway you want. Some players are all about the manager mode. Some players want the online head-to-head. The future for us lies in not compartmentalising any of the experiences, but to build a world where players can add value to their gaming experiences however they like."
That sounds a little arse-ways round from this bench. Surely it's a company's role to add value. Still, Mr Wilson has more great ideas, "You watch TV on-demand and you select the music you want on iTunes based exactly on what sort of entertainment you're after and not what a TV company said you had to watch, or a record company forced you to listen to on a disc. I think that's the future for us."
Now, don't get us wrong, choice is good. However, the idea that a TV or Record Executive doesn't choose the content that you get to then choose a timing for is, well frankly, patronising in the extreme.
Read the whole thing at The Guardian.
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