Starting from 2024, EA Sports is switching to a new football game format, meaning FIFA 23 will be the last of its kind.
Despite not being the greatest eSports title ever, it played its part in shaping the eSports landscape.
Industries like online betting have seriously benefited from professional gaming as well. The biggest names in the niche, like Vulkanbet, have expanded their offerings thanks to the rise of new markets.
In this post, we’ll reflect on FIFA 23’s impact and what it meant for the eSports community.
The Big Tech Leap
Every year, the gaming industry reveals new improvements that push the previous technology into the online attic. Updated versions are always bringing something new and advanced onto the scene, either through breathtaking visuals or realistic mechanics.
To make us feel like we’re the ones on the pitch, EA Sports used HyperMotion 2 Gameplay Technology, alongside two additional components.
The first one was Machine Learning, which enabled the game to generate new situations and moves in real time. The other was Advanced 11v11 Match Capture technology, capturing millions of frames to run the game smoothly.
By making this technological step forward, the company created a path for other sports gaming manufacturers to follow. However, although it was expected that its tech aspect would launch it into eSports stardom, that didn’t happen.
Here’s why.
Pro eSports Global Landscape
Several factors determine whether a video game will be a massive eSports hit. Unfortunately for EA Sports, tech details are not the most important element for succeeding in the competitive area of gaming.
Players with aspirations for going pro prefer games whose outcome depends on skill level and not the in-game built features. As much as you need skills in FIFA, there are team and player stats that can prevent you from showing your true potential. This can present an obstacle to building a successful career, so it’s obvious why it’s not the most favorite amongst the pros.
If you take titles like CSGO, Dota 2, and League of Legends for comparison, they have fixed characters with fixed attributes. That means it’s up to players how they’ll build them throughout the match and how they’ll combine different spells and abilities.
On the other hand, in certain scenarios, FIFA will allow you to perform only as well as your team is. You could be the most skilled man to ever touch the joystick, but if your team is bad, there’s not much you can do about it.
On top of everything, football involves controlling 11 players (not at the same time of course), which feels way different compared to games where you play as a single character. The levels of personal identification are unmatched, so other games win in this regard as well.
The Biggest FIFA 23 Tournaments
Even though League of Legends and CSGO lead the way in terms of viewership and prize pools, FIFA numbers are quite respectable.
For example, FIFA World Cup 2023 assembled around 50 thousand viewers and offered a staggering $1,000,000 prize pool. With over 700,000 watch hours, it’s one of the most significant football gaming events ever.
Similar numbers were pulled off by FIFA Nations Cup 2023 and Twitch Rivals EA Sports. These events also served as a way to say goodbye to the game we fell in love with over the years and prepare ourselves for what waits ahead.
The Consistency Element
One of the biggest reasons why sports games never got to lead the pro landscape was the fact each year we get a new version.
Games like CSGO and League of Legends have stayed the same over the years, with slight additions of characters, maps, or other in-game details.
On the other hand, sports games change with each season, so it’s hard to bond with something that turns different less than 12 months in the future. This business model works for development studios well but prevents them from rising in the world of eSports.
The Future of Football Video Games
Despite not being number one in the world of eSports, FIFA has been the pillar of the gaming community. To this day, it still holds a spot within Steam’s top 10 best-selling games and stands at 30k+ active players. These numbers are huge for those who don’t know.
The record was broken in 2021 when FIFA sold over 325 million units. Now that the format we know is no longer in the picture, it will be interesting to see if EA Sports can produce something that will be of similar magnitude.
