Why Have Football Video Games Become So Popular?
It is easy to credit the rise of various sports to the improvement in technology, which enables people to view these events across the globe, but this does not tell the entire narrative. Football games still attracted massive crowds in the early nineties, and some people even listened to live commentaries through radios and cheered their hearts out for the teams. From Christmas of 1993, when the first FIFA game was launched, it has moved on to become a world mover where millions of people around the globe wait for the release of a newer version every year. But what has fueled this popularity?
One of the main reasons why football video games are always taking the world by storm is the popularity of the actual game. The recent increase in TV broadcasting rights has made football a lucrative venture, and all the major companies and players want to have a stake in it. People follow the top leagues such as the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, and German Bundesliga religiously and cannot afford to miss out on a single match. The hype surrounding some of the top tier competitions such as the World Cup, Euros and UEFA Champions league leaves people who are not into football wondering what they are missing out on.
The football world has evolved to become more of a lifestyle rather than a weekend activity where people go out to watch the games or play a match themselves. Rather than attending an away match or getting ready for a game with pre-season football training, football fans can continue to enjoy their favourite sport through a range of video games. The rise of football managers and fantasy football where people can set up teams and rack up points depending on how these players performed in real life even knits the football world together. FIFA offers an online mode where users can play with opponents across the globe and even set up teams, making things more interesting for players. As well as playing FIFA and Football Manager at home, football has also become a big part of sports betting and has also inspired many slot games too.
The massive number of fans all over the world get a chance to flex out their gaming skills through football video games, which have improved significantly and offer them unbelievable experiences. It is one thing supporting a team where you have no control over how the play and managing a virtual one where you have all the control. One of the most popular football games available is FIFA that seems to get better and better every year. There have been lots of games released over the years in this series from FIFA International Soccer (1993) to the upcoming FIFA 20 to be released this September. Football fans have been able to play their favourite sport on a variety of platforms such as Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and even Windows Phone.
While FIFA is a popular game with many football and video game fans, this title is in heavy competition with games like Pro Evolution Soccer. This long standing rivalry has been going since the early 1990s when both games had their first releases. Competition is genuinely beneficial for the clients, and these two are always locking horns by releasing new versions games. At this stage, it is even hard to imagine how FIFA will improve its gameplay as the graphics are top-notch and it is even hard to differentiate the simulation from reality. All this can be attributed to how the top gaming console companies such as Sony with their PlayStation and Xbox are improving their gaming engines to help facilitate these advanced games.
All these advancements can be attributed to the advancement of technology and the rise of the internet, which has reduced the football world to one global village. These football fans and enthusiasts are connected by various things, and one of them that ranks right up there is FIFA and other football video games.