FIFA 2010 Interview

19 Jun 2009 at 17:55:20 by Andy Alderson

IncGamers caught up with David Rutter at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium to discuss the next installment in EA's FIFA franchise.

This is the earliest build of a FIFA game you’ve ever demoed, why did you decide to show off the game at this stage in its development?

For us, there are a couple of things that we want to tell people about: one is the fact that we’re really doing a great job with the refining of the game. Lots and lots of polish and I spend a lot of time on the forums at the moment talking to fans of the game and making sure that I’m trying to do as much for them as I can. But we’re also innovating and the other part of it really is that the innovations that we’ve put in are so cool that we’re willing to let people have a go. It’s very useful for me to hear the feedback so we can evaluate things as we’re going along.

Peter Moore has outlined the strategy for EA Sports, including FIFA Online. Do you think there could be a convergence at any point between that franchise and yours?

Quite possibly, I suppose. The weird thing for me, though, is that I’m here thinking constantly about things to fix in the gameplay, things to fix in the manager mode and trying not to tell you about the other secret stuff we’ve got planned that I’m not allowed to talk about. FIFA Online is a great game, but I’m not involved in it. All I hear every time I go anywhere is Peter Moore saying “I expect you to hit 90 (per cent, average review rating)” which is a little bit scary but I think we’re gonna do it. The last game scored, I think, 87 and the interesting thing is that little three per cent is hard to get. When you look at the things we’re doing, there’s nothing there where you think “oh yeah, such and such was broken from last year, you really need to fix that.” It’s a lot of important stuff which, when you put it together makes a great game, rather than saying “we need a new shooting system.” It’s all about the nuances of the game and how they fit together and balancing it all out.

Do you think there’ll be enough in the new game to earn that three per cent?

By the time we release the game we’ll have told you about the other stuff we’re doing and then I’m sure you’ll get it. I’m surprised people feel that way; a couple have people have said “do you think you’re doing enough?” I know we’re doing a hell of a lot. I can’t tell you how difficult it is to do all the stuff we’re doing to the Manager Mode, fixing all that match realism is taking a lot of work as is making sure the transfers are authentic. Making sure players don’t suddenly grow into superstar heroes when they’re playing for...I don’t know...Aldershot is pretty tough to do. There’s a lot of stuff that matters to people and it worries me that sometimes what matters to people isn’t what matters to reviewers or isn’t sensational. What I will say is that when people buy the game and play it, they will get a brilliant game.

You once said that you wouldn’t rest until you had included the goalkeeper in the online mode and made it 11 v 11. How’s that going?

(Laughs) I haven’t rested. I can’t really talk about it at the moment as there is a long way to go until it’s really good.

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