Women wonât make an appearance in FIFA 14, despite an insistent campaign of petitions to include them and a summit, last year, that left one organizer with the feeling that it was just a matter of time before women would be included in the worldâs most popular video game for the worldâs most popular sport.
Three weeks ago, in this interview, FIFA producer Sebastian Enrique ruled out the appearance of women in EA Sportsâ upcoming football simulation by saying, âthere are no plans at the moment.â Enrique said including women would require a different physics model specific to those players, plus new player modeling and even hairstyles.
I followed up with EA Canada, the studio that builds FIFA, and was told, by executive producer David Rutter, that womenâs soccer would not make an appearance in FIFA this year.
Itâs noteworthy still for a couple of reasons: The addition, in 2011, of women players to EA Sportsâ NHL series (in their Be a Pro mode, and as an option in creating players elsewhere; two women also were included on a roster of all-time greats last year). And this year also saw, for the first time ever, the LPGA and one of its major tournaments included in a golf video game for consoles. And itâs noteworthy because womenâs soccer is, as a participation and a spectator sport, more popular than womenâs golf or hockey.
https://lastchance.cc/womens-hockey-stars-will-be-playable-in-nhl-13-5938885%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Fernanda Schabarum, a Brazilian living and working in South Florida, last year opened an online petition to demand womenâs inclusion in FIFA. It gained enough attention that David Rutter, the seriesâ executive producer, met with her. âHe said itâs going to happen at some point, and he hopes EA is the one to do it, and do it right,â Schabarum told Kotaku last year.
https://lastchance.cc/if-not-this-year-womens-soccer-will-be-in-video-games-5937094%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
âNothing has changed since our last interview,â Rutter said today. âAs a team we have discussed at length the inclusion of female characters in FIFA, and whilst itâs something that remains on our list of features for consideration as part of our mission statement above, we do not have plans to put female characters into the game this year.â
On a hunch, I asked directly if female footballers would be an inclusion in the next-generation console versions of FIFA, for reasons of disc space, system power or whatever. Rutter didnât answer that and the statement âwe do not have plans to put female characters into the game this year,â would seem to be a definitive ânoâ considering EA Sports has said FIFA will be available on new consoles at their launch. Maybe this will change next year, but we had the same thought in the last one, too.
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