2021 has brought an end to an era. FIFA and digital football itself will never be the same again.
At the end of the year, a certain winter melancholy tends to hit me. Especially when I think back a little on everything that has happened and changed over the year. And at the moment, my mind gets the worst of it when I think about football. Personally, I had a few real highs this year. At the European Championship, as at every big tournament, I cheered for Italy – but I didn’t expect them to actually win the thing.
A few weeks later, I experienced a more unpleasant surprise. And although the title is actually very good on the next-gen consoles, the disastrous PC version makes my heart very heavy. Such disrespect towards the customers is simply incomprehensible to me – no matter how well this decision could be justified for economic reasons.
Much more has happened in the past twelve months. Throughout the year, it has matured in me the realisation that FIFA and sports games in general will never shine in the same light for me after 2021 as they did before. For me, 2021 marks the end of an era.
My time with FIFA
I know, I know. The typical GlobalESportNews reader is not actually a FIFA fan. And I understand you, after all I’m more occupied with strategy games or complex oldschool RPGs most of the time. But there is no denying that parallel FIFA was a very big part of my former youth. I’m really not a competitive gamer and if I have to compete with someone, I usually expect to lose. Even with strategy games like Age of Empires 4.
But with FIFA … nobody can do anything to me. Sure, I’m not going to win against every pro. But at least I have the confidence to take on most other people. When I was a youngster I had a real don’t mess with me in FIFA attitude. Simply because I’ve been playing FIFA since I was six years old. I didn’t play FIFA 98 very much, but to this day tubthumping pops into my head whenever I see a football. I get knocked down, but get I up again … hach.
After that, I bought the tournament offshoots without exception (World Cup 2002, European Championship 2004, World Cup 2006), and it wasn’t until FIFA 08, after I had discovered the Frankfurt Eintracht as my national team, that I got completely caught up in the FIFA whirlpool. To this day, there’s a whole row of FIFA boxes on the shelf under the TV. One for each year.
FIFA was my childhood and it’s one of those games that I feel a comforting warmth when I think back to my time with it. I spent days immersed in the world of professional football. I coached Eintracht to the championship, led Southhampton FC from the third division to the Premier League (which actually happened two years later), discovered talents that turned into world stars and founded my own club with my friends. I will never forget all that.
And I get a lump in my throat at the thought that this time is finally over.
FIFA won and still lost
I’m not saying that from now on I never intend to play FIFA again. But after all that has happened, 2021 does seem like a huge break. A break with the self-image of what the status quo of football games on the PC or consoles actually is.
Because in my youth there was this (silly) battle of faith between FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer. Personally, as I mentioned, I was on the FIFA side without being a flaming missionary. The reason I gave was that I wanted to play with Eintracht Frankfurt instead of SG Rhein-Main. But this hostile dichotomy was omnipresent. After 2021, it seems to have fallen silent. FIFA has won.
For as disastrous as the PC version of FIFA 22 turned out to be, Pro Evolution Soccer – or rather eFootball – has undercut the whole thing.
And it doesn’t seem like Konami is moving away from the Free2Play track. There is simply no alternative anymore and there wasn’t before if you wanted a big licence package.
The situation is already such that EA doesn’t have to put much effort into its product. Of course, you get the impression that FIFA has been criticised increasingly harshly in recent years. FIFA 22 was rated worse than any other game before it and on Metacritic it looks even worse. The user score has crashed down from year to year, FIFA 22 stands at 1.5 out of 10. And EA can shrug its shoulders, because FUT still rakes in money without end. In hardly any other area do you feel as powerless as you do here.
FIFA is Ultimate Team
It’s hard to argue away the fact that Ultimate Team has reached a point where it feels like no other mode can survive.
Whether it’s Career or Pro Clubs, it all feels like a forced add-on that doesn’t get much service over the year. It is literally noticeable that the focus is really on the money printing machine with the player cards. At the beginning of the year, a leaked report caused a stir in which EA openly communicated to employees that everything should be done to lure players into Ultimate Team. A portrayal that EA itself called a “misinterpretation” without completely contradicting it.
For my part, I have finally given up hoping for anything other than superficial changes to my modes. FIFA has been absorbed into Ultimate Team and I could well imagine that after the licensing dispute over the naming rights, the term FIFA will be laid to rest in the video game sector.
Which just makes me sad when measured against the context of my childhood, regardless of what I think of the actual namesake. But FIFA simply had a momentum of its own in relation to EA’s video games and I wouldn’t be surprised if more people think of the games first when they hear the term instead of the football association.
One thing is certain: After 2021, the world of digital football will look different for good. No more competition. No real new qualities. No FIFA and no reason for EA to change that. Instead, FUT remains and here EA already has an eye on the controversial NFT trend anyway.
Yes, for many FIFA was the antichrist years before. But as I said, FIFA was a huge part of my childhood and you don’t let go of it until there’s nothing to hold on to it.
