Goodbye FIFA, thanks for branding a generation of football fans

I have to say that the news is that the saga FIFA will cease to exist as such from 2023 came to me in a special way. I don’t know what the future holds for me EA Sports FCbut I think I won’t be wrong if I say that it definitely won’t have such a profound generational impact as the franchise that started in late 1993 with FIFA world football.

Like many other football fans who grew up in the 90s, the saga FIFA It was a fundamental part of my childhood. I must admit that I haven’t played all of them, but the titles have accompanied me regularly for over two decades. And over the years, my interest in them has not diminished, despite the fact that I believe that they no longer have that share of magic that made them so significant.

However, the game FIFA This is entertainment that never loses its relevance. It doesn’t matter if it’s one of the latest versions for PlayStation or reliving the classics through an emulator. When the game launches and the Electronic Arts logo appears, it’s impossible not to remember the voice of Andrew Anthony and his legendary EA Sports. It’s in the game”. This shows very clearly how special this experience was for those of us who have spent a significant part of our lives with various publications. FIFA.

It doesn’t mean that EA Sports FC doomed to be an inferior proposal. On the contrary, the developers claim that they will retain the vast majority of licenses; and it is also likely that they will explore new paths when it comes to game modes. However, for many of us FIFA It’s not just “four letters in a box”as Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA, said.

FIFA It’s not just “four letters in a box”

It has nothing to do with the feeling or opinion a football fan might have about FIFA as an institution. We are talking about FIFA as something that for many of us has been a gateway to experiences we never thought we would have. And this is no small matter, considering that in my particular case, access to video games was not easy in a small town in the interior of Argentina, where most of us came from working families with no money. the luxury of having consoles or computers in our homes.

This is more, my first experience with saga FIFA it was at school. Yes, at school. Our computer science teacher had a copy The path to the World Cup-98 (or FIFA 98 for many) and let’s play in the last minutes of the lesson, secretly from the director. To this day it echoes in my head “Woo-hoo” from blur and his Song 2.

FIFA It was and is more than a brand. And I’ll reiterate what I said before: I think that the games of the last 5 or 7 years have been devoid of the magic that their predecessors were able to have. It’s true that the franchise has greatly benefited in terms of technology, aesthetics and gameplay, but gradually its essence has blurred.

I repeat, the titles are technically excellent and very interesting, but they have lost the freshness that football no one return managed to recover. Despite this, many of us keep coming back because they are part of the saga. FIFA and awaken in us a special sensitivity, a sense of loyalty, if you will.

I’m not sure how this translates as EA Sports FC. After all, it goes much deeper than just “stay tuned, we still have licenses!”

The saga that marked us with fire

What I am showing in these lines will no doubt make more sense to those who have entered the world. FIFA in the early years than for those who joined its latest editions. And I’m not saying this in terms of “all the past times were better” or something like that. Technology has changed, the accessibility and consumption of content has changed, and so have the ways to play. Part of the magic that I believe FIFA last year it was also due to the lack of many of the technical resources that we have today.

And over the years, the desire for realism has surpassed the excitement of playing for it. What did it matter if the size of the ball was out of proportion to the player’s body? Who bothered that the nets did not move when a goal was scored? It no longer exists today and has other readings. On the one hand, this means that technically we have developed by leaps and bounds, and this is very good. On the other hand, we have become extremely demanding in our search for perfectionism, and I don’t know if that’s a positive thing. Or I’m not entirely sure, at least.

I think it was accuracy to the millimeter, the desire to make the game even more realistic than life itself, that turned off the feeling that had accompanied us since childhood. The feeling that many of us have retained in recent years because of the attachment to these four letters on the box: FIFA.

In the future, nothing prevents Electronic Arts from creating EA Sports FC best or most realistic soccer game. From there, to mobilize the passions, like his predecessor, is a different story. Now, thank you FIFA for branding a generation of sports fans. With hope FIFA 23 be farewell to the height of circumstances.