Let's
face it. FIFA 15 just isn't worth the asking price.
I used to see the FIFA series as the atypical
yearly, subscription-based payment model. You spend your £40, play for the
year, and upgrade when there’s a new release.
But in an era of DLC
updates and online patches, is there any reason why they should be charging
nearly £60 for a game churned out in less than 12 months? GAME are currently touting
an ‘Ultimate Team Edition’ for PS4, to the tune of £56. For £50, you could
probably purchase the entire FIFA back catalogue.
Every game depreciates,
but older copies of FIFA are often worth less than the disc it was printed on. (For
example, CEX will sell you the PS3 versions of FIFA 09, 10 and 11 for a grand
total of 75p.)
So why should I buy the new one?
One reason and one
reason only – because your friends have it, or they’re going to buy it.
EA are masters of
building hype, but the FIFA community would continue to buy the game out of
habit. I have friends who only play
FIFA, and it’s the one game that everyone seems to own on the PS4. (It used to
be COD.)
So, what should I do?
I, like most, will
probably buy it on release day. (In fact, CEX have a few cheeky copies in stock
one day before release.) You could always wait for the inevitable Christmas
price-drop, but you’ll be outmatched resource-wise by everyone who purchased
early.
If you shop around
you can find it for roughly £40, so what’s the point in waiting? It’s either
twelve months for £40, or £30 for nine. It’s essentially a subscription in all
but its name.
I remember toughing
it out during FIFA 13, as I refused to buy it for the asking price, but that
made my eventual copy of 14 so much better. Two years seems to be enough time
to see a visible leap in fluidity and general quality, so if you can wait it
out, you’ll be able to see more of a difference.
But what about the game itself?
Aside from updated
teams, kits and sponsors, what does the game actually have to offer when
compared to earlier iterations? Apparently players are now more ‘emotional’,
because that’s what we fans have been crying out for. //sarcasm.
They've also improved
the tackling, as well as making players feel more ‘pacey’. Fair enough, but it’s
nothing that couldn't have been tacked on as a yearly, £20
update for the last
game.
It would be nice to
think that EA will eventually move to this model, but they make so much money
from sales that it just wouldn't make sense. If consumers are willing to fork
out big bucks for yearly iterations, then so be it. We can only vote with our
wallets, and we take FIFA to the top each year.
To summarise, I see
FIFA as an addiction. In some ways, it’s similar to smoking. You know it’s a
waste of time and money, and it can be unhealthy in larger doses. Nonetheless,
we continue on because we’re addicted, and we’ll be the ones to decide when we
stop. (The problem is, addicts never know when to call it a day.) So roll on
FIFA 16!
