The FIFA video game series began its life as a partially misunderstood and almost unwanted project. And later become one of the most popular sports video game ever. Some of the leading people in EA were not sure if football in the US would have any success. During that period, EA earns a lot of money on golf simulations and the Madden and NHL series, simulations of American football and ice hockey. At the same time, Europeans didn’t take those games seriously.

Gardner and EA Canadian subsidiary Bruce McMillan tried to convince EA executives that the company should enter the global football business. Perseverance eventually paid off and EA agreed to do a football simulation with true tips. Barely ten people worked on the game, and the project was led by McMillan. The Guardian writes that the development of the game cost about 30 thousand dollars a month. By comparison, the budget of FIFA 16 was about $ 350 million, and about 100 people work on the game.

The most popular sports video game holds Guinness World Record

In the early period of development, it was decided that the game would be presented from an isometric perspective because it would give the player a better overview of the game. The FIFA International Soccer video game, later renamed FIFA 94, was released on December 15, 1993. Not to mention that this was the first football simulation that was licensed by the World Football Federation.

In the beginning, the game could be played on the Sega Mega Drive game console. Later came to other platforms. The player-controlled one of the 11 players. And you could choose which player you want to choose. A maximum of four players could play the game at the same time.

EA expected to sell a maximum of 300,000 copies of FIFA across Europe. But in the end, they sold almost half a million copies in four weeks and became the best-selling game in 1993. If we look in the Guinness Book of World Records we can see FIFA as the best-selling sports video game in the world.

So far, games from the FIFA series have sold in more than 325 million copies. The FIFA video game series is the fifth best-selling video game of all time. This football game is mostly played on Sundays. On that day we can see more than 200 million matches in the world. The main key for the success of this game is the fact that in every new game they made certain innovations, which hold all their players. And which attracted new ones.