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tTwo years ago, the long and lucrative relationship between Electronic Arts and FIFA broke down, and EA took the ball home and launched EA Sports FC, a new brand for its soccer simulation series. FIFA President Gianni Infantino made a grumpy statement that he would find a new developer and that “the only authentic and real game with the FIFA name on it will be the best available to football players and fans.” It seemed like a ridiculous boast: EA had 20 years of experience creating conventional soccer simulators, an expensive and very sophisticated undertaking. How could FIFA hope to find a studio capable of competing?
Well, it looks like football’s world body has found its new best friend. Gaming news sites have been reporting on a tweet from Ghanaian retailer MohPlay, stating that a deal had been reached with 2K Games to create a new FIFA title, perhaps even for release later this year. The tweet, which has had more than 200,000 views, seems to confirm a previous rumor about a partnership between FIFA and 2K.
In a way, it makes sense. Although the American publisher has not developed a modern football simulator, it has a lot of experience with sports games, through its titles NBA 2K, NFL 2K, WWE 2K, TopSpin 2K and PGA Tour 2K. Furthermore, this last license was finally bought for 2K Several years after EA ended its relationship with the PGA, the company has form in this area.
But a new FIFA game this year? That seems unlikely. Even if 2K had started work as soon as the relationship between EA and FIFA dissolved in May 2022, that gave them just two years to assemble a team, develop the game, and create digital images (which would almost certainly include motion capture) of hundreds. of players, in addition to modeling the stadiums.
The reaction from the players has been mixed. Many welcome the idea of competing for the EA series now that Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer brand is a shadow of its former self. But 2K games have been criticized for open monetization within their games. especially the NBA serieswhere players can use real money to purchase players for MyCareer mode.
I’d love to see a strong new indie competitor, something with the excitement of 2D titles like Sensible Soccer or Kick Off 2, or a game reminiscent of the early 3D era of International Super Star Soccer or Virtua Striker. We have Sociable Soccer, the spiritual successor to the Sensible series, but it would be great to have something completely new; something fun, fast and eccentric. We’ve seen the introduction of idiosyncratic concepts into the field of golf simulators with What the Golf and Desert Golfing – surely it’s football’s turn?
Could we perhaps resurrect the idea of semi-turn-based soccer games suggested by the ZX Spectrum classic Subbuteo? Or maybe bring back the era of football games licensed by a single (often retired) professional? We have long needed a successor to Chris Kamara’s Street Soccer or Emlyn Hughes International Soccer. Forget multi-million dollar tournament licenses and endless microtransactions – will we never see anything like Peter Shilton Maradona Handball?
What to play
If you rightly miss the glory days of humor-tinged resource management games, then Galacticare by Brightrock Games will give you a lot of nostalgic pleasure during the summer months.
Essentially Theme Hospital in space, the goal is to build your own hospital capable of caring for the health needs of various alien patients infested with space parasites, gelatinous bones, and other disgusting ailments. The learning curve is gentle and forgiving, and the cartoonish style emphasizes fun over fundamental business practices.
Available in: PC, PS5, Xbox
Estimated playing time: 30+ hours
what to read
helldivers 2 is one of the biggest hits of the year and GamesIndustry.Biz has an interesting interview with its creator, Arrowhead Games. One of the main difficulties facing the company is how to deal with the problems that come with great success, including the health of its staff. “The big difference now, which is horrible, is the amount of threats and rude behavior that people in the studio are receiving from some really shitty individuals within the community,” explains CEO Johan Pilestedt. They are certainly not alone.
another interview that attracted a lot of attention this week was with the director of the Naughty Dog studio Neil Druckman, who appeared to tell Sony’s website that his next project would “redefine dominant perceptions about gaming.” He was forced to correct the registrysince it was apparently misquoted.
Activision has confirmed it that this year Obligations The title will be Black Ops 6; More details will be revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase on June 9, followed by an in-depth stream.
I’m reading Playing with reality: how games shape our world by neuroscientist Kelly Clancy. It is a fascinating and wide-ranging study of the role played by games throughout human history, from the forgotten medieval game of rithmomachia to modern simulations and online worlds. It is published on June 18.
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Question Block
This question comes from the reader. Aliwho wrote:
“We often hear that the video game industry is bigger than the film and music industries, but it often doesn’t get the same treatment as the former.ose more conventional industries. However, isn’t it just a bigger industry because unit costs per video game are often much higher than unit costs per movie or music album?
For example, yes One million people will buy GTA VI for £60 next year, generating £60.m in income, but yes a million people see Oppenheimer for £15 a ticket or buy Taylor Swift’s latest album for £15, that would generate £15meter.
And as a video game journalist, do you place any value on Reports on how the video game industry is bigger than the film and music industries?
Although there is some truth to this, there are some flaws in your math. Firstly, for every video game sold, there could be a whole family or group of friends playing it, so in a fiscal sense, each copy is working very hard for that £60 million. Furthermore, we must not overlook the enormous rise of free games for smartphones, such as Candy Crush or Genshin Impact: according to a series of statistical estimates, there are around 2.5 billion smartphone players in the world, many of them which never pay. a penny, and certainly not £60.
I’ve come to despise how the news and non-specialist media refer to global revenue figures whenever games are mentioned, something they don’t do with movies or music with the same regularity. It’s a hopelessly narrow lens through which to view such a bewilderingly diverse art form, and it reduces the cultural value of games to a few money-making franchises. I really hope that when GTA VI arrives, the news and arts shows find more interesting angles than the amount of money it makes for interested parties.
If you have a question for the ask block, or anything else to say about the newsletter, hit reply or email us at pushbuttons@theguardian.com.