EA Sports released the FIFA 16 demo version on September 8, downloadable for free for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation, and PC. The demo offers access to three stadiums (Borussia Park, CenturyLink Field, and Santiago Bernabeu) and twelve teams, two of which are women’s squads and one of which is the World Cup-winning U.S. Women’s National team.
Including Women’s National Teams
FIFA 2016 will be the first game to feature women’s teams, something that has female footballers and gamers everywhere rejoicing. The full game will allow players to choose from twelve women’s national teams, and hopefully future versions will include even more.
The coed FIFA 16 could prove to be a very profitable move for EA Sports and for the gaming industry in general, allowing game producers to attract and capitalize on the female consumers they have traditionally neglected. Increased attention to female consumers could soon become a trend across the gaming market, beyond just the sports tech sector.
David Rutter, the vice president and general manager of EA Sports FIFA, said in May that “bringing some of the best women’s players and teams in the world to our franchise is a massive event for EA Sports, and we are equally excited about bringing millions of fans a new way to play.”
FIFA 16: New Teams, New Tech
The company has been hard at work creating an “authentic” experience for players, developing highly realistic player movements and likenesses through detailed motion capture sessions.
U.S. Women’s National Team players Sydney Leroux, Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe stepped into high-tech motion capture suits and a 360 degree body scanning rig to model for the FIFA 16 animations. Developers also sent a mobile headscanning unit to a variety of international tournaments and events in order to capture players’ facial features and hairstyles.
The demo also features new draft options, new skill games, new broadcast graphics, and a new training mode that will be available on the full version of the game.
FIFA 16 is set for full release on September 22.
