How the EA Sports Games Series could find a whole new audience

Gamers love Electronic Art's FIFA games, and the audience is a massive global empire that most brands would envy their awareness and reach. But they could be doing more. They could increase their audience by looking at the rise in content creation and having the ability for bloggers to recreate goals through updates and views that show the point they want in their article. Not gamers but content creators.

Imagine recreating the Cristiano Ronaldo overhead kick against Juventus? But also seeing it from every angle, height, player's views etc.? Imagine it being in 4K so you can take screenshots to use in designs for wallpapers, posters and more? Blending real with the game would be easier to create incredible scenes for magazines, banners and merchandise. Just create a system that allows people to recreate goals without playing the game. A 360-degree camera controlled video editing software or capturing system.

If you have played computer games in the last 20 years, you would be hardpressed to have played an Electronic Arts Game or be aware they exist. They come in various sports like basketball, American Football, Ice Hockey, Golf, UFC, Car racing, etc. The biggest game of all is probably the football game called EA FIFA.

Launched in 1993, the Electronic Arts FIFA games have come out every year and been at the pinnacle of the gaming charts. No company has matched or come close to the gameplay you find in EA FIFA when it comes to sports games. Every year the evolution of FIFA has been an exciting test and release system that wasn't always a hit. But clearly, Electronic Arts was listening. We all remember things like the four passes to score in FIFA 99 or how easily it was to get booked in FIFA 98.

But Electronic Arts have created more than a game. It's a more active community than any brand you could name. The cards you can buy, the cards people want of themselves are also a huge thing, but you can feel the can slowly becoming more than just a simple game you play and then turn off. If Electronic Arts get it right, and they certainly look like they will continue to do so, they will look beyond the gaming aspects.

Imagine you have a Football blog, of which a Google search will bring up a healthy 121 million results. You wanted to show the game or goal again but discuss a particular point; what if the blogger can recreate the scenario they have watched and look at angles, variables, views of payers and the officials and more. Do you realise what size audience, who more than likely already play the game, will use that section of EA FIFA? Imagine the lower league potential where they can recreate their team's goals.

Twitch, a platform that allows people to watch someone else play a game has seen enormous growth:

Traffic continued to grow, with 1.5 million broadcasters and 100 million monthly viewers in 2015, rising to 2.2 million broadcasters and 15 million daily viewers in 2018. Average concurrent viewers have climbed to over 2 million in 2021, as Twitch saw huge growth during the coronavirus pandemic.

Fans love to discuss goals. Mention the Geoff Hurst 1966 World Cup goal where he hit the crossbar, and you will spark a conversation that will go on for hours. Maradona's hand of God, Messi's goal against Getafe when he was 19. I could go on and on! Goals by your favourite club, the best goals ever scored, the best headers, volleys, etc. Imagine the ability for budding filmmakers to create showreels for clubs based on footage they use from FIFA; it's endless. As the graphics have improved, it is almost hard to distinguish between the game and real life.

Don't get me wrong, there is still a long way to go with the graphics, but they get a little step closer every single season. The idea of content creation for the Electronic Arts FIFA series is a massive opportunity for the game to become even more significant. There used to be a problem with space as everything on the disk, cartridge, or cassette could only hold a finite amount of data.

Games are now downloaded directly onto a massive hard drive. And the EA FIFA Content Machine doesn't even need to be downloaded on the game. You could easily tie in with Adobe and have it as part of Adobe Premiere or other film editing software these bloggers use. Could Electronic Arts find a new audience by providing more control to the gamer or video editor?