14 DAY TRIAL // Teams at FIFA and EA Sports are announcing that they are planning to launch a new edition of FIFA Interactive World Cup 2016 on October 1, allowing gamers on both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 to play against each other as they seek the best virtual football player in the world.
The two companies explain that the action will start using FIFA 16 on October 1, when qualifying seasons will run on both the Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network, a suite of free events that will take place one a month until December of this year.
32 players will be then selected to take part in the Grand Finals of the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2016.
The first 30 of them will come from the online process, divided into four major regions: Europe; North, Central America and the Caribbean; South America; and Asia, Africa and Oceania.
For each of the seasons, five players for both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One will get into the Finals, the four overall leaders for the territories and the runner-up from Europe.
They will be joined by the winner of the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2016 of last year, Abdulaziz Alshehri, and the winner of a qualifying tournament in the host country, who must play the Xbox One version of the game.
The competition will raise the profile of FIFA 16
Thierry Weil, FIFA marketing director, states, "This season is shaping up to be the most thrilling yet, and the announcement that the tournament will be available to players on both PlayStation and Xbox consoles is sure to excite a new world of challengers. The new tournament format, along with the additional places available at the Grand Final, will also increase the intensity of the competition for all the players."
The winner of the competition will take part in the coming Balon d'Or ceremony and will take home a prize of 20,000 dollars (19,000 Euro).
FIFA 16 is set to launch on September 22 in North America and two days later in Europe and can be played on the Xbox One, the PlayStation 4, the PC and older home consoles.
The fact that the virtual World Cup starts on October 1 means that gamers will have a limited window of time in which they need to get acquainted with the new mechanics and with the changes made to the ratings of the best players.