About four per cent of those playing have completed a women’s game in FIFA 22. Is women’s football in FIFA superfluous?
The European Women’s Football Championship is currently enjoying great popularity. Not only sold-out stadiums and the emotionally charged atmosphere on the ground in England testify to this, but also the ratings achieved in Germany:
According to the media magazine “DWDL”, the match between the German women’s football team and Spain attracted eight million viewers. The match against Denmark, which was relatively unimportant for the further course of the tournament, was still watched by 5.76 million viewers in front of their TV sets – with 26.8 per cent of the day’s ratings.
Figures that EA SPORTS can apparently only dream of at the moment with FIFA 22.
700:17
17 teams count in the current part of the series of women’s national teams. They can be used to play friendly matches or an international tournament. By comparison, there are about 700 teams in over 30 leagues for the men.
According to research by the Canadian online magazine “TheGamer”, less than four percent of the players wanted to play such a women’s match.
For this purpose, the achievements of the individual platforms were consulted and evaluated. According to this, most people still seem to give women room on PlayStation: 4.2 percent completed the “Passion” trophy there, which is awarded when a (!) woman has played a match.
Steam lists a rate of 3.9 percent, with Xbox bringing up the rear with 3.3 percent. Whether the enthusiasm for women’s football is greater on the Nintendo Switch seems unlikely. This figure cannot be reconstructed, as Nintendo does not offer an achievement system. Our look into the achievements of the individual platforms confirms the research.
Much helps much
It’s no secret that women’s football doesn’t match the men’s numbers even on the real pitch. However, a lack of interest cannot generally be assumed, as the numbers for the European Championship also show. The problem probably lies elsewhere: although women’s national teams have been an integral part of the series since FIFA 16, the opportunities to also use them are limited.
Due to the lack of leagues, a career mode or own FUT maps, there are no opportunities to use the women’s teams that promote long-term motivation. What remains is a quick friendly game for in between.
Modes such as Volta and Pro Clubs show, however, that women in FIFA definitely work and that a female avatar is therefore also used with pleasure.
A look at other games also shows that content is gladly accepted when different genders are served with the same content.
For FIFA 23 and the following EA SPORTS FC the task for the Canadian developer is: Give the virtual women something to do. Who wants to play for a pot of flowers when the big trophies beckon? But whoever puts Sam Kerr on the cover of FIFA 23 will not do so without reason in the best case scenario.