Electronic Arts is shedding light on an issue that has plagued the video game community for some time with its latest version of FIFA 16, which, for the first time, includes playable female characters.
Christine Sinclair & lucky members of the North Shore Girls Soccer Club at the Vancouver Best Buy in late September to help launch FIFA 16.
Last summer, video game developer Ubisoft came under fire after commenting that the reason playable female characters were not included in popular games like Assassin’s Creed, Unity and Far Cry 4 was because it would have taken too much time and money to do so. The company’s creative director purported that both animation and voice work is more difficult with female characters, because of things like nuances in mannerisms, facial expressions, and emotions.
Whether you disagreed with Ubisoft’s defense, as many did, or you agreed with it, as some did, there’s no denying that the number of female gamers is growing. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) reported last year that almost half (48%) of gamers are women, with there being more than twice as many female gamers aged 18 and older than there are male gamers 18 and younger. And chances are they’d appreciate playing with characters with which they can relate, which includes their gender.
Not only is FIFA 16 the first in the series to feature playable female soccer stars, but it also features one of those stars, Vancouver future stars captain Christine Sinclair, on the cover. This is important when you consider that the ESA also found that 50% of video game purchasers are, in fact, women as well. And seeing a female face right on the game cover can have an impact, particularly when it’s surrounded by major sports game titles that only feature men.
Within the game are 12 women’s national teams, including Canada, as well as Australia, Brazil, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, and the U.S.
It has been reported that the game’s designers used motion capture of famous American players in order to replicate the movements of the female players as accurately as they could. Whether it cost more or not to produce these female characters, as the aforementioned comments may lead one to believe, isn’t clear. But chances are that regardless, the move will pay off in spades as the growing number of female gamers appreciates being able to play this latest title with a gender that matches their own.
