Gaming —

FIFA 18: Football for the many, not the few

“There is no stereotypical FIFA user,” says EA—and that makes development hard.

FIFA 18: Football for the many, not the few

Last year's FIFA 17 was something of a new beginning for the long-running football franchise. The move to the Frostbite engine—originally built for Dice's Battlefield first-person shooter series—offered greater visual flexibility, along with new kinds of gameplay. The latter took the form of The Journey, a narrative-led mode telling the story of Alex Hunter, a kid trying to make it into the first eleven of a Premier League outfit. FIFA 17 was surprisingly progressive game, but when compared to Konami's renewed Pro Evolution Soccer series, it came up short.

Still, if FIFA 17 was the fresh start, this year is the consolidation. FIFA 18 brings back The Journey, and promises to fix numerous mechanical flaws. However, as FIFA developers EA Canada know all too well, it's hard to please everyone when dealing with an audience the size of FIFA's. Does EA go for realism, as PES 17 did, or does it continue down a path of flashy goals and cheap thrills?

"One of the challenges for us is that there is no stereotypical FIFA user," FIFA 18 producer Matt Prior tells me. "There are people that just play FUT [FIFA Ultimate Team], people that only play multiplayer, people that just play in leagues etc. Balancing the game for everyone is a challenge.

"Pacing, for instance, is often a big one. There are always going to be some people that think the game is too slow and some that think it's too fast. It's a matter of balancing that and making sure any player feedback we take on board is fully analysed and that we're changing things for the good of the whole game rather than just for the vocal few who are on Reddit and bitching about it."

For the many, not the few, then. The inclusion of The Journey in FIFA 17 was in itself an attempt to please a greater number of people. Its blend of authored plot and football was seen by Prior and his team as a way of engaging those with a only passing interest in the sport—the kind that like football enough to watch big games, but do not have a strong enough connection to follow a team day in, day out. Adding an emotional story to an otherwise set of abstract rules is, in theory at least, an good way to bring in players. After all, everyone loves a good story.

<em>FIFA 18</em> brings back <em>The Journey</em>.
Enlarge / FIFA 18 brings back The Journey.
One day, all of this will be yours.
Enlarge / One day, all of this will be yours.

FIFA 18's The Journey mode is a direct continuation of the tale of Alex Hunter. Only this time, EA is promising a more diverse mix of professional players and famous footballing locations. As evidence, a colourful Brazilian street and Cristiano Ronaldo are both pictured in The Journey's first batch of marketing materials.

"If you’re not a huge football fan then The Journey is a mode that you can connect with, and through connecting with it you could become a bigger fan of the sport itself and maybe even with a specific club," elaborates Prior.

"There's a similar thing here with me and ice hockey. Through the old NHL games on the Mega Drive I got really into ice hockey having learned the rules through the game. I became connected to the sport and began really appreciating it thanks to video games."

One of the other benefits of including The Journey is that it provides a safe space for FIFA newcomers to learn the basics. Through training sessions and a gentle introduction to full fixtures, players can understand how to pass, shoot and tinker with tactics without the pressure of having to perform at the kind of lofty level required, for instance, in online multiplayer.

Prior promises that much more effort has gone into targeting The Journey's training elements toward different kinds of players. Simply, the tasks you're asked to perform will change based on your experience and chosen difficulty level.

"Getting that balance right for all players is difficult and we've added new features this year to help with that in the form of variable training features that relate back to your skill level. If you're playing on Legendary [difficulty], for example, then we can give you training structures that focus on something like the new volley system that we've got. The beginners, by comparison, won't be learning the nitty-gritty of the new features. Instead they'll be learning the fundamental lessons required to actually play the game."

Channel Ars Technica