EA Celebrates FIFA Success In Japan

04 Nov 2009 at 11:31:45 by Andy Alderson

EA’s Peter Moore has stated his delight at the success of FIFA 10 in Japan.

The critically-acclaimed football title not only received a shining review from Japanese games mag Famitsu, it also debuted in the top ten of the sales chart.

“This year's tour de force has been universally-acclaimed as the best iteration ever in the long history of the franchise, garnering a number of perfect scores from reviewers and averaging a metacritic score of 91,” wrote Moore on his blog.

“So imagine my delight to see Famitsu award the game a platinum rating (36/40), a score only enjoyed by the cream of the crop of games released in Japan. That score obviously caught soccer gamers eyes over there, as the game debuted in the top 10 this week, much to our delight.”

FIFA’s performance in Japan is another blow to Konami and its Pro Evo franchise which, despite making steps forward in the most recent iteration, still falls behind FIFA in terms of critical reception.

However, Moore is not complacent and stressed that EA Sports still has work to do in the Japanese market.

“I recognize that there are many factors that contribute to a gamer's decision to purchase (or not) a particular game, I'd just hate for the gamers in Japan to not get as much enjoyment as the rest of the world out of the best sports game of this console generation,” he said.

“Also, we'll continue to do our part to try to better understand the Japanese consumer - with market research, focus groups with gamers of all ages, and feedback sessions with journalists - and continue to improve on the best soccer game in the world.”

Check out our review of FIFA 10 here.