EA Sports, the publisher behind the multi-billion dollar franchise FIFA series has now added women national teams to its newest edition of the game FIFA 16. The move comes at a time when female players have been given an equivalent status to their male counterparts.
The news comes in the wake of the current arrests for corruption from the FIFA management, which occurred earlier this week. The arrested officials were in Switzerland and are now being extradited to US to face charges.
EA Sports FIFA, VP and general manager, David Rutter, said in a statement that EA’s effort was massive and that it will create a new way to play for millions of FIFA players. It’s all about bringing an authentic experience to the game.
12 national women teams have been added to the current roster of teams, which include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, and US. The women’s teams’ will be playable in the modes such as Kick Off, an offline tournament, as well as Online Friendly Matches.
EA had invited players from various women national teams to its Burnaby motion capture lab to capture a sample of the women from the teams through its 360-degree motion-capture process, and then it created 3D models based on the real players, to help in building the animated roster at its EA Canada division in Vancouver.
World player of the year Nadine Kessler, USA all-time leading scorer Abby Wambach and England skipper Steph Houghton are all certain to feature in the game showcasing their special skills like their male counterparts from the franchise.
EA was initially planning to make an all female Ultimate team but felt it was too much resource for its inaugural year and went ahead only with 12 teams. Also, to create that likeness, EA went to an extent and used the players’ movements which helped it to build new locomotion models for women in FIFA 16, including female-centric walks, runs, sprints, and horizontal movement.
FIFA 16 will out on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.