FIFA: What's in store for PC gamers?

EA sports ventured into the PC/Windows platform for the first time in 1995 with FIFA 96. Now, 18 years on and around 20+ titles released under the franchise, PC gamers still come under a small percentage of people who play the FIFA game series, comprising chiefly of the X-Box and Playstation console gamers.

FIFA 96 – The first title on PC

Sports games undertaken by EA like NFL, NHL and even NBA, focusing on precision movements based on thumb stick controls have never tasted large success in the PC gaming industry. EA Sports even stopped producing these game series’ for the PC. The FIFA series however, has stood the test of time and has kept faith in the PC industry, albeit a little. So, why is it that PC gamers are overlooked when it comes to sports games and how does the future look for us faithful PC gamers and followers of the FIFA franchise?

Game Piracy

The PC gaming industry’s biggest scourge has been the wide-spread piracy, forcing plenty of production houses to keep away from even releasing games for PC. It is well known that almost any major game releasing for PC will have been pirated and available through multiple sources on the internet within few days of release. Still, EA has held on to its decision to release the annual FIFA installment on PC too.

The people at EA have taken a few measures to curb this issue. The game’s online system is notably very secure. Only a legitimate disc/digital copy along with the product key allows a player to access the game’s online features with internet ‘pirates’ having very little luck in bypassing the online system. The LAN mode in previous FIFA titles was a major success in Gaming zones and College fests organizing tournaments, where just a single pirated copy of the game was enough to support up to 5 vs 5 multiplayer matches. Sadly for PC fans, the LAN mode was removed from FIFA 12, which now supports multiplayer matches either over the internet or on a single screen.

The game’s LAN multiplayer mode was last seen on FIFA 11

Revolutionary changes

A large chunk of PC gamers stayed away from sports games as they were highly accustomed to the mouse and keyboard combo which suits well for many shooter and action games but in no way for sports games which involve definite controllers for 360° player movement. Many PC gamers were skeptical of replacing their trusty mouse and keyboard combo for a separate controller. The trend has changed now, with seasoned FIFA gamers opting to buy separate controllers to utilize the full freedom of movement FIFA games offer.

The FIFA Ultimate Team game mode was introduced to PC only from FIFA 12 onwards while missing out on it for the previous 3 game installments. The percentage of players playing the FUT game mode on PC will come as a discouragement to EA – just a mere 2 – 3%, with the rest composed of the mighty XBox 360 and PS3 player force. The whole FUT game structure is centered on users buying and selling players by means of an auction market. With the small amount of PC players and tons of hacks and auto-buyers out on the internet, any PC players will know how hard it is to actually find a proper opponent and enjoy the FUT game mode.

When FIFA 11 released, EA announced that from then onwards, that PC version of the game will include all features and improvements seen on the console versions. This was something that was missing on previous FIFA titles, but with the involvement of Executive Producer David Rutter, PC gamers were assured that they wouldn’t be left behind compared to console players in terms of game features.

Ignite Engine: PC not ‘powerful enough’?

However, with the announcement of FIFA 14, the ‘Next Gen’ version of FIFA based on EA’s spanking new Ignite engine was exclusive to the next gen consoles namely the XBox One and the PS4. EA even took a step forward, deeming today’s PC’s not “powerful enough” to run the next gen FIFA titles. This was received with scorn by the PC gaming community where it is well known that any PC gamer will certainly build his rig to be able to run any high requirement graphics thrown at it. Also, with both the next gen console hardware based on PC type architecture using AMD’s CPU technology, I am pretty sure any mid-range to high end PC will be able to handle the ‘powerful’ Ignite engine.

The future

Finally, looking at a few years down the road, how does it look for PC gamers loyal to the FIFA franchise? With multiple rumours about EA porting the Ignite engine to PC as well, PC fanboys might have something to rejoice around September this year when EA release FIFA 15.

To improve the condition of the FUT market, EA should seriously consider merging the PC FUT servers with the console versions, which will help PC players enjoy the game mode just as much as their console counterparts. For FIFA players on the PC, it is very highly recommended to fork out some cash and buy an XBox/PS based controller which provides very accurate control and let you enjoy the total freedom of movement FIFA provides.

Future of FIFA: What’s ahead for PC gamers?

Signing off, I am quite sure EA will one day listen to the problems of the typical PC gamer and will fix them, once and for all and put us at a par with the consoles. Meanwhile, all you PC gamers and football-crazy people, who need a daily dose of FIFA’s career mode like me, stay strong!