Premier League

I definitely think they'll be in top 5. Let me know and be honest (even though it may hurt 🥲) what you guys prediction are

FIFA is the popular football game franchise by EA Games, published under the EA Sports brand. The series is officially licensed by the International Football Federation, and began in 1993 with the release of FIFA International Soccer, the first game in the franchise. Currently, the game has several titles and a faithful audience, including in its cast great football stars and several teams and leagues from around the world, such as the Premier League, the Brazilian Championship, the EFL Championship, the Italian Serie A and B, among others. others.

EA football games are available on numerous platforms such as PlayStation 4 (PS4), Xbox One and PC (by Origin) — some were even released for the Nintendo 64. Today, FIFA is the biggest competitor of the game Pro Evolution Soccer ( PES) from Konami. This competition even resulted in disputes for licenses from big names in football and some leagues, in addition to the preference of football stars. Below is a list of curiosities about the games in the FIFA series.

1. It all started with FIFA International Soccer In 1993, Electronic Arts published FIFA International Soccer, a Mega Drive game that would go down as the first football team simulation title with an isometric view. It was also the first game officially licensed by the International Football Federation, but it still wasn't allowed to use real-world team names and images. It was possible to play only with national teams identified by the names and flags of the respective countries. Many of the athletes were named after the developers, such as the player "Janco Tianno", inspired by Jan Tian, the Chinese who led the production team. Not knowing if the word FIFA would have appeal in the United States, EA suggested that the game be released under the title Team USA Soccer in the country. But, afraid of its launch being a failure, they decided to release it as FIFA International Soccer worldwide.

2. Developers worked with the game as “background music”

Electronic Arts focused more on the Madden and NHL series, which were more popular in the United States. Despite this, those involved in the first games put a lot of effort into making FIFA a success. Producer Bruce McMillan, who worked on the first few games in the series, was a great example. He worked with the game running in the background to always be on top of its atmosphere. Even when not testing, he left the console on, even overnight. According to the producer, it helped him think more clearly. Besides McMillan, other people involved in the development of FIFA were doing similar things. Head of programming Jan Tian landed in the hospital after going too long without sleep, and was thrilled when his son called the office, asking his father to come home.

3. FIFA was successful even on the Nintendo 64

One of the numerous platforms that received games from the FIFA series was the Nintendo 64. In 1997, FIFA 64 was released, which followed the molds of the 32-bit versions of FIFA 97. At the time, Electronic Arts was about to abandon the Nintendo platform, but when FIFA 64 was released, they had such a number of pre-sales that the publisher changed its mind. After that, EA announced plans to release several of its sports games for the Nintendo 64.

4. Rivalry with the PES series

The great rivalry between FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer goes far beyond licenses, graphics or gameplay. The two biggest football simulators also compete in their relationships with players. Lionel Messi, one of the ambassadors of PES, was convinced by FIFA in 2012 to appear on the cover of the game FIFA Street and today he is one of the biggest highlights in the new FIFA 20. Another notable case was that of Arsenal player Thierry Henry, who was considered a FIFA fan. But in reality, the striker preferred the Konami title and made a deal to be the cover of Pro Evolution Soccer 4. During a press conference, Henry stated that PES was a more faithful representation of a real football match and that comment hit the EA Sports team hard. Thankfully they became more determined to improve their game after that comment.

5. Victor Valdes had difficulties capturing his character's phrases

To make the game as realistic as possible, EA Sports takes numerous photographs of English Premier League players, which are then used to create the expressions of their representations in the game. Nigel Nunn, who is responsible for visiting all the clubs to make the captures, also asks them to make different facial expressions and say a few sentences. But some players, especially those who don't speak English, end up having difficulties. One of those players was Victor Valdes, who was a Manchester United goalkeeper at the time of FIFA 15's development. The Spaniard couldn't speak many words in English and, therefore, his mouth movements in the game ended up being limited.

6. The game is on multiple platforms

When Electronic Arts releases a FIFA game, it tries to make it available for as many platforms as possible. In addition to versions for PC and cell phones, the list of consoles is huge, and includes everything from Mega Drive, Game Boy Color and Sega Saturn to the most recent ones like PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Wii U. Other platforms that have had FIFA games are : Xbox 360, PlayStation One, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PS Vita, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo 64, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance, 3DO, Sega 32X, SNES, Game Gear, Master System , Sega CD, Amiga, N-Gage, Gizmondo and even Zeebo.

7. Custom covers

FIFA has different regional covers, always featured by the most popular players. From Wayne Rooney in the England version to Ronaldinho Gaúcho on the national cover. The most popular regions also received custom club skins that could be downloaded for those who wanted to have their favorite players on the cover of the game.

8. Record holder in sales

In 2017, FIFA entered the Guinness World Records as the world's best-selling sports game franchise. As of 2018, it already has over 260 million copies sold. In 2011, the series had already been translated into 18 languages and had already been made available to 51 countries, including Brazil, where the franchise has always been very popular.