14 DAY TRIAL // Publisher Electronic Arts has announced that its FIFA franchise has reached 100 million units in terms of sales over its lifetime, with a major contribution from the recently released FIFA 11, which managed to sell more than 2.6 million units in as little as five days.
The publisher says the football simulation title is the fastest selling sports video game of all time, with overall sales 20 percent bigger than at the same time during last year, with FIFA 11 set to get over 10 million copies sold before the end of the year.
Electronic Arts says that the game will get a boost in sales with the launch of the new, free FIFA 11 Ultimate Team mode, which allows gamers to use cards to create their dream football team and then handle all aspects of management.
Ultimate Team is designed to allow gamers more options than the version which accompanied FIFA 10 and there are more options linked to player versus player gaming.
The new mode is available in all FIFA 11 games on the Xbox 360 or on the PlayStation 2 which have a connection to the Internet.
FIFA is one of the biggest money makers for Electronic Arts, alongside the Madden NFL series, which has bigger traction in the United States.
The series has been released on systems like: the Mega Drive, Sega CD, Amiga, Nokia N-gage, SNES, PlayStation, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, 3DO, Sega 32X, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64.
FIFA has, in the last few years, seen tough competition from the Konami made Pro Evolution Soccer but this year the Electronic Arts made title appears to be the more popular.
One segment of the football simulation game market that FIFA could not corner is the one focused on management, where Football Manager from Sports Interactive and SEGA still has the upper hand.