The company did not believe that the sim would sell

Aug 19, 2013 08:59 GMT  ·  By

FIFA is at the moment one of the bestselling video game franchises and a big revenue generator for publisher Electronic Arts, but it seems that when the concept was first proposed, the company doubted it would sell even one copy.

David Gardner, the former sales and marketing leader of the European division of EA, tells MCV that, “We did some research and found that 90 per cent of C&VG magazine readers loved football. So we realised that if we wanted to bring the EA Sports brand to Europe we needed a football game.”

He adds, “I said that we should be in the worldwide football business. But when I first said that, EA was like: ‘well we are already in the football business with Madden.’ I said: ‘No, I mean proper football’.”

The MCV article offers more information about the early days of the FIFA series.

Electronic Arts is a company with deep roots in the United States and, traditionally, Americans have been unwilling to accept the existence of the European-style football.

The game has only become popular in the last ten years and is still seen as less manly than its American counterpart, even if the MLS is at the moment a big competition that aims to rival European leagues.

FIFA 14 is the most recent installment, which aims to introduce even more realism to both player movement and the way the ball behaves after being struck.

Gamers will also get access to an improved overall interface and a new engine, called Ignite, on the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.

EA Sports is also planning to include more features in the Ultimate Team mode.

FIFA 14 will be launched on September 24 in the United States and three days later in Europe, on the PC, the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.