Games interview: EA scores with FIFA 2004

Posted on 24 Jul 2003 at 10:51

Pro Evo is obviously a good game, but it is much more simulation based, and some people don't like that. We actually play Pro Evo, we play all the games - we have to, it's our job.

So lots of people play it, and we think some things are good, some things aren't so good; but I always say to people: "For me, the better they do, the more resources we get." It's like the console wars - if Microsoft and the GameCube go away, what incentive will Sony have to make the PS3 that much better?

The football business is big. There's enough room for who knows, two, three, four of us going in there. And if Konami went away tomorrow someone else would just jump in. We're happy selling lots and lots and lots of copies of FIFA; we're doing very well.

So the new off the ball system you're implementing, are you doing that to make this a better football game or is there a possibility you're doing it to make the game more palatable to a worldwide audience?

Isaac: We honestly feel that it makes for a better football game. You don't have to use it if you don't want to; what we want to do is give the user who's been playing it for a month that extra level, so it's: "Okay, I've mastered this part of the game - now I want to get a little more expressive, now I want to play." And so that's what you can do.

This is still early, we're still looking at things, still trying to tune the game, but you can see how we're trying to get that depth into the product, trying to get it so that you're not just focused on the ball, looking at that all the time.

How much work actually goes into recreating the actual look of the players?

Isaac: A fair amount. We've got over 400 stars this year, so that means we have to get reference material from the players. We've improved the player model, we have organic motion to make the players move better, so there's a fair amount of work. But the majority of our time is spent on actual gameplay details.

Are you disappointed that FIFA won't be appearing on Xbox Live?

Isaac: As a producer I guess I am. For myself I want everyone to have the best experience, on any platform, and online's going to be really, really big. Unfortunately the two companies - EA at a much higher level than I can influence - and Microsoft are just not seeing eye to eye.

Historically EA has always got into things that it can see working; we'll see. Obviously we're still talking to Microsoft, we're not just going to say: "That's it!".

So what about FIFA 2005?

Isaac: Career mode and online will be there, we're gonna keep pushing those forward. We're obviously going to keep working on the fundamentals. Even if you look at something like Pro Evo, it's still not perfect, far from it, so even in ten years we're gonna have a lot that we can still do.

I can see making players more realistic, making their intelligence more like their actual type of play, and just making a bigger, better, more user friendly game, which is more about entertainment than just playing a football game. A whole entertainment experience.

How about multimedia-style possibilities?

Isaac: I envisage, and it's not going to be far off, especially with online, I'd love to see people put FIFA in just to see the scores from that day's real life games.

If there was some way you could see match reports and scores and video action, it could be like a one stop football shop, rather than just a game that focuses on the world of football. I can see us going in that direction, and EA is probably just about the only company who could.

Author: Steve Colton