14 DAY TRIAL // We knew that FIFA 10 was big. After all, millions of people have been playing the series since its first release and the hype surrounding it is high. Electronic Arts has officially announced that FIFA 10 is the fastest selling sports-based videogame ever and that it is the biggest launch the publisher has seen in Europe. FIFA 10 managed to sell 1.7 million copies in the first week on sale and it could break some more records in the coming months.
Peter Moore, who is the president of EA Sports, said that “We were confident that FIFA 10 would be a hit, and this week fans across Europe have shown just how much they love this game. We are incredibly proud of FIFA 10 and this kick-off for great, authentic football competition.”
The game received a lot of positive feedback from reviewers and EA Sports is also claiming that, at the moment, it is the highest rated sports videogame ever on both the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the PlayStation 3 from Sony. As many as 155,000 players were online at the same time playing multiplayer matches and more than 10 million sessions have been completed since release. These are truly staggering numbers for a videogame that has just been outed.
FIFA 10 brought one major change with the introduction of 360 dribbling, which allows the player in control to steer the ball however they want along the pitch, positioning themselves best to deliver a short through pass or a long cross to the other side of the pitch. The Artificial Intelligence of the players has also been improved, goalkeepers are now better at defending when it comes to corners and crosses, while the overall speed of the game has been brought in line with the real world.
The numbers posted by FIFA 10 are especially impressive given the economic downturn, which limits the disposable income that potential players have. The lesson publishers and developers might learn from its success is that long running games that have an established fan base and can demonstrate clear improvements year over year are the safest bets in this climate.