14 DAY TRIAL // Despite the fact that the FIFA series from EA Sports has, during the last few years, eclipsed its main rival, the Konami-made Pro Evolution Soccer, the team working on the game at EA Canada is still worried that it might lose its dominant position.
David Rutter, who is the producer in charge of the FIFA series, told CVG as part of an interview that, “There are other things out there. We’re still worried about what Konami is going to do with Pro Evolution Soccer and naturally they’re our closest sports competitor.”
He also talked about how the team working on FIFA perceives the popularity of the game and added, “I think actually being in Canada is a bit of an advantage as well because we’re away from all the ‘woohoo’. Look how amazing we are!’
“We don’t see the shops with tonnes of FIFA copies in them, or see the launch or hear about it on the news. We’re far enough away that we’re this little isolated pod of negative nerds all working on FIFA.”
Before 2007 Pro Evolution Soccer was seen as the better game, offering quicker dribbling and more interesting tactical setups, but since then FIFA has managed to regain lost ground and push PES into the background.
The domination was confirmed by FIFA 12, which introduced the much-praised Player Impact Engine, a game that still continues to sell strong despite being launched in September 2011.
FIFA 13 is set to enhance the physics-based interaction, both when it comes to the player and the ball, and a new control system will be introduced, allowing gamers to better use the ball in order to get behind defenders.
Konami has also promised that Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 will be a re-imagined game that will give FIFA 13 a run for its money during the fall.