FIFA 07 – EA Answered Your Questions – Part 1

We have asked EA to answer your questions … and they did!

You asked EA your questions at FIFPlay.com and we asked them to answer them. FIFA producer, Marcel Kuhn sat with us, gone through your questions and answer them one by one:

How many people working on FIFA project at EA?
EA: The size of the team varies as there are now two separate teams working on FIFA. One is focused on building the engine and creating the game play for the Xbox 360 version of the game. The team I work on as a producer is focused on making the best possible current-generation (CG) version of the game. We are probably talking about 100 people in total.

When making a new FIFA game, do you just alter the code used in the previous FIFA games or do you restart the whole game?
EA: For the Xbox 360 version of FIFA 07, we started the whole game from scratch. For the CG version we’re polishing, finessing and improving on the existing engine. We choose certain areas that need updates based on feedback from reviews and feedback from the gamers who play the game.

In terms of features though, we are always introducing entirely new elements that are built completely from scratch to increase the depth of the game. For FIFA 07 on CG we upgraded the ball physics and applied major changes to the passing and shooting systems. Some of the other exciting new features that were added for FIFA 07 were the EA SPORTS Interactive Leagues (an online feature), real currency, dynamic player growth (both Manager Mode features) and in-the-air jostling (a game play feature).

Who is the founder of FIFA videogame? I mean who gave first the concept to EA for creating a football game for FIFA organization?
EA: The creation of a FIFA game is a team effort. In the 90s, we started to look into creating a football game — the first EA SPORTS FIFA game was released in 1994.

Where do you get your information for statistics and rankings of players and teams? Do you have some people sent to watch certain games?
EA: Every real-world team, every player and every stat is captured in our database. The stats are maintained by the development team at EA Canada. Of course it takes much more then these stats to keep everything up to date, therefore they have about 250 database researchers that live in over 60 countries. Without them it would be impossible to keep the data at such a high quality level.

How do you decide which leagues should be added, by the sales volume or on another way and how FIFA fans can support you in obtaining the rights for additional leagues?
EA: A lot of things flow into the decision if we take on a new league license. First of all there needs to be enough player demand for it. We’re constantly roaming through the forums and try to find if there’s a league that gamers want. Second, the license needs to be available and third we need to have enough time to support a new league in terms of resources. The teams have to be researched and added to the database, new chants have to be recorded and new art assets and banners need to be created. A lot of work for something that looks as simple as “adding a league”.

How EA does support FIFA & FIFA Manager Fan sites?
EA: From a development standpoint, we’re trying to provide fan sites with as much added content (i.e. Producer Diaries, videos) as possible. With the big fan base the FIFA franchise has, the community also plays a big role in defining the game by proposing and talking about new features in discussion forums.

Do developers and producers of EA SPORTS play FIFA, are they FIFA fan?
EA: That is definitely a rhetorical question. Of course! We are not only fans of the game, but of the sport itself as well. During the development phase of a game there are always FIFA tournaments ongoing. This helps us tune the game and of course is a lot of fun. I myself am a FIFA player since 97.

How many Iranian working on FIFA project at EA SPORTS?
EA: The FIFA team is really big, therefore I hope I don’t miss anyone. As far as I know there are two Iranians working on FIFA. One is working for the text database group, and the other one works on the FIFA NG title as a programmer.

How can someone apply for a job at Electronic Arts for EA SPORTS? Is there any website for hiring?
EA: EA is always looking for talented and enthusiastic people, here’s a link that lists all open positions in the EA world.
http://jobs.ea.com

Thanks for all your support and hard work.

Greetings from Vancouver,
Marcel

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