Sports

As an avid Fifa Soccer fan, I always get anxious every October when the release of the new version is imminent. My anxiety is more of a panic than it is a sense of comfort when it comes to this year’s iteration of the world’s most popular football game. I’ve strayed away from playing Fifa on the console for many years (owning my last Fifa game on Gamecube and PS2) and have chosen to get my footy fix on the PSP. I thoroughly enjoy being able to play a quick game of football on the go and while the visuals may not be next-generation console-beautiful, the PSP version is as feature rich as the console versions and that keeps me coming back for more, every time.

Although I set aside money into my yearly Fifa fund for the game, I wonder if my money would be better spent if the model for producing and delivering sports videogames were to change.

Case in point: after viewing the Fifa 10 PSP website, the following updates were made to the game:

• More responsive gameplay


• Improved goalkeepers


• Prematch scouting reports

These are just 3 changes made to FIFA 10 on the PSP this year. Another feature that was marketed on the website was this year’s Fifa would have better collision detection, but I’ll get to that shortly.

Given the list above, the first two (2) items are tweaks to the gameplay system and 3rd is simply an update to the game’s UI and loading screen system (as prematch scouting reports are represented as load screens before matches).

Now back to collision detection: I don’t think ANY company should market a better collision detection system as a feature that should sell the next iteration of their product. Better collision detection should be one of many minor tweaks that a game should have over it’s lifetime. Unfortunately, console games rarely ever receive any kind of performance or bug fixing updates. Once the game doesn’t ship with a game-breaking bug, it won’t see any bug fixes in its lifetime. (This is where the iPhone wins as a platform: applications and games frequently receive bug fixes via updates keeping games up-to-date).

One ugly bug (I say bug because I know it isn’t a feature) in Fifa 09 AND perpetuated into Fifa 10 occurs when you make a substitution. On making a player substitution, the player who comes onto the field is NOT visible for a few seconds (assumedly because the 3D model for that character is being loaded at the time). This is quite obvious when you make a half-time substitution to both of your strikers: the game will restart and you won’t see any of your strikers in the starting circle, just the football.

In addition, Fifa 10 PSP includes a two new modes and one rehashed mode from Fifa 9.

Fifa 10 offers a rehashed “Be A Pro” mode that monitors your player’s club performance which decides whether or not your player earns a position on his country’s national squad.

Last year’s Interactive Leagues has been removed but Fifa 10 sees the addition of “The Season” which lets a player play through a complete season with a team, removing any Manager Mode or Be A Pro aspects from this mode.

Fifa 10 also includes a Practice Arena which needs very little explaining.

With one online mode removed, one rehashed mode returning and one new mode added, Fifa 10 only feels like a small update to Fifa 09. More evolutionary, less than revolutionary. Fifa 10 features gameplay tweaks, improved goalkeeping features and improved UI updates which also add to the overall game but they still make FIFA 10 feel like a minor update to Fifa 09.

The question I ask myself is “Did I get value for money” on purchasing Fifa 10. Playing full price for a game that has VERY similar roots to it’s predecessor (graphics, models, modes, even sporting the same bugs) does not feel like a situation where I have gotten value for my money. Although I has quite happy to receive Fifa 10 as a birthday gift this year, I could have been quite content with playing Fifa 09 for another year (I have already done this: I owned Fifa 07 and played it for two years, skipping Fifa 08 because it was a small improvement over its predecessor).

Recently, I’ve wondered what sports videogames would be like if they were based on a yearly subscription model that expired after a two-year period.

Game prices being what they are, especially from powerhouse publishers like Electronic Arts, usually hit the store with an MSRP of ~ $40 USD (PSP) and ~ $60 (Xbox 360, PS3). Following the PSP model, over 2 years, you would have invested $80 in Fifa products.

Superficially, if Fifa 09 and Fifa 10 shared a similar code-base, the development team did not have to spend extra resources to build Fifa 10, as they already had a working base to build from. (These savings are never passed on to the consumer but then again, they will never state that they simply rehashed last year’s game and sold it at full price this year).

Why not offer the first year offering of the game (in this example, the first year offering would be Fifa 09) as a paid product (MSRP $40 given the current market price) and offer the second year offering (Fifa 10 in this example) of the game as a paid downloadable or UMD installable upgrade. Potentially, the update would have to be priced less than the game from the previous year, possibly at $20. The update in this case would offer tweaks and updates (such as better collision detection, better goalkeepers,UI updates and roster updates) but allow the player to enjoy the benefits of being able to continue playing on his year 1 game profile. Potentially, savings would be experienced by the publisher/developer given that a much smaller team would be needed to produce the second year update as opposed to building a new version of the game every year. This would also give the team 2 years of preparation time before the next substantial iteration of the game. This would allow developers to focus more of their team on creating a revolutionary products every 2 years, instead of churning out evolutionary (read lack-lustered) products every year.

What do you think: Would you be happy with a 2 year model for sports games or are you happy paying for rehashed versions of the same game every year?

*UPDATE* Where’s the PS3 to PSP connectivity? PS2 to PSP connectivity seems like such a legacy utility to add and like other features, it feels like an after thought. I’m hopeful for FIFA 11.