Every year EA SPORTS presents new scenes in the game to bring the soccer experience at home on the sofa to life. Also for FIFA 23, senior art director Fab Muoio and his team have come up with things to make the virtual game day even more authentic. But one question remains – who is watching all this?

Dare more variation

When asked how EA SPORTS gets gamers to actually watch the labor-intensive one-players, Muoio has to laugh in our conversation at the FIFA 23 Producer Showcase and acknowledges, “That’s a very good question.”

Sure, in the first weeks after release, the curiosity may still be great and the one or the other cut-scene or game day presentation is watched to the end. But in the course of the FIFA year, the interest in always the same events and stories about the game decreases. At the latest, when friends sit on the couch for a cultivated FIFA evening, every single player and every slow motion falls victim to the skip button. Some are happy about the extra mile of soccer culture, while others are annoyed by the disruptive gameplay.

EA SPORTS responds to this problem in FIFA 23 with more variety: “There is a selection of scenes during the game that can be triggered. The reaction of the audience always depends on what is happening in the game,” said Muoio:

“It’s a complex process that evaluates what’s happening and selects a scene that fits. We always try to improve the behavior of the audience, as we have now done with the better synchronization of the audio track to the behavior of the audience in FIFA 23.”

“We try to find the perfect balance”

After all, cheers are also extensively celebrated in FIFA eSport: players use some of the same over and over again, such as ‘DullenMIKE’ for example his skier – a recognition value. EA SPORTS therefore also tries to find the right measure for the cut-scenes and matchday presentations, because they exist, the atmosphere suckers.

“We try to find the perfect balance between being able to start a game quickly and giving players key information about the game,” Muoio said. “We have so many players who prefer different things: some want to get as deep into the game as possible and compete, others like scenes away from the game. We customize that for each mode.”

In other modes, any needs may turn out differently: “A career mode player, on the other hand, may want to soak up the atmosphere, be presented with stories and statistics about the game. So we take the time there to tell something unique to the individual career.”

So if you want to take advantage of the possibility of matchday brimstone, you can do that in FIFA 23 with drone rides and even more variety to get in the mood. For everyone else, the skip button still remains for quick entry or immediate continuation of the game.