Fandom’s impact on the progression of FIFA’s graphics.

Hello and welcome to the second of the four blog post series, that look into the progression of FIFA’s graphics from the year 2008 – 2022. In blog post two, it will be looking at a para-textual form of the game media in fandom and the role it has played on FIFA’s graphics during this time period.

What is fandom ?

This is a culture generated by fans that is characterised by the feeling of camaraderie with others who share the same common interest. Fandom of video games as always been apart of the game media culture and was started as these fans wanted a way in which to share their love of video games, which resulted in a secondary industry being born. Where moving into this decade, there is now an entire culture surrounding fandom through the platforms such as YouTube, that provide enough relevance to influence a games marketing campaign.

Fandom in FIFA

Soccer, is one of the few truely global sports and with its popularity it made sense when it first appeared as a video game in 1994. This was ground breaking according to an article by BBC, as it used isometric technology instead of 16-bit style which was popular at the time. It was due to soccers large scale fan base that the game was created, with this popularity it provided the video-game a massive audience in which it could target. The game has now been made for over 25 years, but I will be looking at how fandom drove the graphics between 2008 and 2022.

The continuing popularity of soccer alongside EA’s passion to provide the most realistic playing experience it could provide the players show meant updates to the graphics constantly. As it wanted to provide the most realistic playing experience between the period of 2008 and 2022 it would follow player ranking and contracts and update them in accordance to what was happening the soccer world to ensure players felt as though they were playing the game that reflected the current state of the game.

The most evident example of how fandom impacted FIFA graphics was in the release of the 2009 game where it introduced an Ultimate Team option for its players. The website FIFAPlay says this feature enabled players to build and manage their own club, where they could buy packs to receive players in which to contract their own team. This introduction into the games graphics and software was due to the fandom of the game not being generated by soccer lovers but from the fandom that was solely centred around the game. This provided fans with the opportunity to compare and socialise with other players about their own teams and form a community for fans who enjoyed playing the game.

It is from FIFA’s dedicated to provide continuous improvement to its graphics and the game in general that is has been rewarded with one of the most loyal and large fan bases within the game media industry and is a massive part of the reason why this game is so successful year in and year out.

That is all for blog post two, be sure to keep an eye out for blog post three next week that will look into how the genre as impacted the progression of FIFA’s graphics.

Reference

• MCPherson, S., 2018. FIFA and Fantasy and Fandom. MNUFC (Accessed 6th September 2022)
• Xfire. 2021. FIFA Archives. Xfire (Accessed 6th September 2022)
• Fansided. 2022. Barcelona, Real Madrid, FIFA headline latest Fandom 250 nominees. (Accessed 6th September)

#FIFA #FIFAgraphics #videogames #fandom #blogpostseries

References

• Bryce, J., 2019. The Impact of Fandom on Game Criticism. Game Developer (Accessed 30th August)
• Bbc.co.uk. 2021. Fifa 21: From 1994- 2021 how the game has changed over the years – CBBC Newsround. (Accessed 30th August)
• George, D., 2018. Fandom 250: FIFA Series Makes Fansided’s Fandom List. App Trigger. (Accessed 30th August)
• FIFAPlay. 2021. FIFA Ultimate Team. (Accessed 30th August)
• Swalwell, M., Ndalainis, A. Stucky, H., 2017. Fans and Videogames: Histories, Fandom, Archives. Routledge & CRC Press. (Accessed 31st August)