What can football learn from FIFA 14?

I was in London last week and had a chance to listen Peter Moore, Chief Operating Officer of EA Sports at the “Leaders in Football” conference. As a gaming aficionado, I’ve obviously heard of him before and I have been aware of his role in developing FIFA series. He made a great presentation with loads of numbers and data. There were many points Mr. Moore had mentioned but one of his remarks is the reason why I have written this article:

"FIFA games or any titles of EA Sports do not have the aim to replace the original game. We are trying to widen the real life experience via the games and in a way catalyze."

Picking up from this point, I have thought of writing an article based on EA Sports’ achievements in FIFA series and what football as sport can learn from FIFA 14 and other football games.

I also believe that, football certainly being the most loved and followed sport on earth shall look for new inspiration points for future development. Here, games may be a good source of inspiration. 

Here we go:

1) Data matters:

Football clubs have long been over estimating and bragging with the number of their fans. However they have forgotten the fact that the fan base without any engagement other than weekly fixtures is not so meaningful. What matters is what you do with those fans. I believe we have a lot to learn from FIFA 14 in terms of acquiring fan data and evaluating it to reach meaningful conversions.

EA Sports knows how many gamers are playing with which teams right now. They have the data of the number of players selecting teams when they start the game. Most importantly FIFA 13 sold more than 15 million copies, is there a better public poll than this?

*Photo by @pitchlondon

2) Statistics matter:

With the developments in tracking technology, it is great to see the statistics such as running distance, speed, shot speed, possession and heat maps. Thanks to those statistics and more importantly and obviously to social media, people are using their second screens more and more.

FIFA 14  along with many other football games bring those statistics instantly on screen as you play. It is very soon that such a diverse range of statistics will appear on TV's, smart phones or tablets without any human touch. The company that will do this (I believe EA Sports will nail this as they are also the naming sponsor of TV graphics in Barclays' Premier League) will make a huge step and the meaningful use of statistics will begin. I believe we are still in the very primitive stages of this.

3) Engagement matters:

I will show you two fantastic videos. I would advise you to put your headphones on and watch with a good volume:

Manchester City Kit Launch

Gareth Bale's Real Madrid Unveiling

These two videos show that it is not really necessary to spend a lot of money on productions in order to create inspiring and engaging videos. The use of games in such manner will certainly increase in the upcoming years.

4) Education matters:

We are in the days of acknowledging the fact that with each generation the attention span is decreasing and authorities responsible of education are working hard to come up with innovative solutions. This is the reason why usage of tablets in educational programs is increasing. This is the same with football. If EA Sports or other developers would open their game engines, preferably for free of charge, to third party developers, football education can make a huge leap forward.

Think of this, a 13-year-old kid can download next day's training program to his console or tablet and recreate at home. On next day he will certainly be more successful on the pitch and learn faster.  If this kind of interaction can be managed, it would mean shorter learning times and would set new targets in a relatively short career of a football player.

5) Promotion matters:

Last season a friend of mine criticized the FIFA 13 Soundtrack. I told him that FIFA franchise needed music industry before (in the end of 90s start of 2000s) but now music industry needs FIFA franchise for promotion. This is the same for federations, leagues and clubs. It is a must for all football family in each country to take place in football games. It would be very hard to reach more than 15 million gamers apart from TV broadcasting, provided that you are one of the top 50 clubs in the world. Still it is very tough to measure those interactions and converging them into meaningful relationships is another issue. Representation in FIFA games is important and will continue to be vital. Federations, leagues and clubs need FIFA franchise as much as EA Sports needs them.

6) Brands matter:

I read an article last month and surprised to see that FIFA series may have never been presented in the first place. In short, EA Sports' Europe office worked hard to convince the HQ and EA Sports Canada Office finally produced the game. Naming the game is another story: EA Sports had been giving the names of the organizing bodies or leagues of all sports to their games: NBA, NFL, NHL etc. When the game was about to be launched EA people went to Zurich to speak ISL representatives who ran the marketing operations on behalf of FIFA back then and got themselves a nice 5 year deal. Right afterwards they started to deal with associations and leagues. This should have been an awakening point for sports marketing industry in Europe. Think of the naming rights in FIFA 14: Federations, clubs, players, managers, and stadiums. It should have been an epiphany for those associations and clubs in those years.*

7) FIFA Ultimate Team matters:

If you are football fan at my age (32) Panini collections from Euro 1996, FIFA World Cup 1998, Euro 2000 and FIFA World Cup 2002 probably played an important role in your love of the game. Panini is still in the business and continues doing an amazing job but FIFA franchise reinvented this tradition in digital. You can open up packs in Ultimate Team and try to field strongest team possible in the actual game. Ultimate Team mode is also the most important revenue source of the FIFA franchise. I believe in the near future Ultimate Team will grow bigger and will become a product that will be bought from shops, stores.  

For this to happen EA Sports needs a company like Panini and Panini, investing in digital collections since 2006, needs EA Sports to expand their presence. This kind of partnership can turn Ultimate Team into a global phenomenon. Think of buying gold packs from your store, sticking them in collection books for each league and with the codes you can redeem the players online. Perfection. 

8) Social Media matters:

A new era may start if some company creates a meaningful relationship between social media and games. Football Manager franchise has been testing this for the past few years. EA Sports is more present in video sites like Youtube and Twitch thanks to super-fans and people that do trades. I believe this participation will continue to increase and interactive media will disrupt the recently present traditional-social media relationship. I am thinking of EA Sports channel on TV where you can turn on and watch sports that matters (a global competition, FIWC maybe. Or follow your favorite player) This can be huge, look at League of Legends, Starcraft, World of Warcraft.

9) Technology matters:

We have been discussing the goal line technology for years. First time I wrote about was in 2007 and now we are in 2013. We have seen the goal line technology used, we know the cost of it and its application totally falls under the responsibility of football bodies.

In FIFA franchise, this technology has been present for decades. The game can determine 100% sure whether the goal is in or not, offside or not and even they can create a referee that gives all decisions right. I believe that this will be a feature in football broadcasting in the next 5-10 years. As we are watching the matches live, we can switch on to FIFA mode and see that TV feed is instantly rendered and watch the match with the games' perfect referees.

10) FIFA Interactive World Cup matters

Do you know that FIFA (I am referring to the governing body this time) has regulations for FIFA series' FIFA Interactive World Cup mode? This mode has been played by a record breaking 2,5 million people last year and destined to grow in the upcoming years. Yes it will never be a FIFA World Cup and no one wants it to be but it will be huge. What we learn from this mode is the gist of this long article: With good planning it is in our hands to create valuable partnerships with franchises like FIFA 14 before too late.    

If you don't communicate with your consumer someone else will come and communicate - Peter Moore

@ilkerugur

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