FIFA 2010 Interview Page 2

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

Is there a problem in terms of playability? Is it hard to make playing as the keeper fun?

No, it’s quite playable. I think it’s a balancing thing and that’s where the challenge would lie were we trying to do it (laughs).

Did the success of FIFA ’09 heap extra pressure on you when developing FIFA 10?

Yes.

How confident are you that FIFA 10 can live up to expectations?

I’m lucky enough to work in an environment which lives and breathes on pressure so every day when I go into work, everyone knows what’s expected of them as far as delivery is concerned and game quality in particular. We expect it to be very hard, particularly our partners and our families but at the same time I am extremely proud to be doing this job and I know there’s a lot of people involved and it does upset me sometimes when people badmouth EA. I know that the fact I’m allowed to spend so much money making good gameplay without having to do anything that’s gimmicky, speaks volumes about the game.

FIFA ’09 took a lot of players away from Pro Evo, arguably for the first time. How important is that rivalry?

Very. For me, there’s the pressure of making a brilliant game and I try not to worry too much about the other stuff because you go a little bit crazy.  What I like, however, is the fact that at the same time there’s this other group of people who are doing the same thing. I’m a very competitive person and lots of people who work on our team are competitive. I think if you like football video games you’re likely to be a competitive. Having them there is great – they’re clearly very talented and very clever people and it’s good to have that competition to inspire us not just to keep on doing what we’re doing, but to innovate as well and get as far ahead of them as we can.

ADIDAS Live Season and Ultimate Team are recent additions to the FIFA stable. How will these be built upon and expanded?

I can’t really talk about either of those things at the moment but I think they’re great for the game. And, speaking as a company, they make a lot of money for us so I think that we would be a very interesting company if we didn’t pursue them.

FIFA is now regarded as the most authentic game of football on the market, but how far do you want to take that realism? Off sides, for example, disallowed goals, diving in the area?

It’s interesting, because I really spend a lot of time asking to do some of these things. We ask because we’re a FIFA-licensed game and they have a level of expectation when it comes to applying the rules of football. I would love to have incorrect decisions and off-sides but I probably wouldn’t like diving, because it’s kind of cheating. If I’m playing you and a decision is made by the AI that is unfair, then that’s one thing. But, in general we are negotiating with FIFA to allow us to do some of these things.

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