The worst part with this is, I am almost sure if those company would serve them a game bending toward a more simulation type of experience, they would probably love it. Of course they would still remains many to bitch about "fairness", but they are already doing that anyway.
I think this is a really interesting point. I'm not sure where I stand on this.
The interest in eFootball - which you can see in streamer numbers etc. (not massive numbers, but not insignificant) - proves that a much slower, more realism-focused game generates interest (and that's despite the fact that it's bare-bones, and despite the fact that - IMO - the gameplay has major issues).
But every FUT player on Twitter will wheel out the line "a game should always be a game" and that FUT is "too slow". FUT gameplay is 22 ice-skaters with rockets up their arse, on fast-forward. But they say it's "too slow", over and over. They go from Call of Duty to FUT, and they need it to be that fast to sustain their interest.
I don't think FUT players will ever truly want anything else other than the experience they have now, which they will bitch and moan about forever, but then play in every waking moment. I follow a guy on Twitter who posts FUT clips almost daily, usually to say it's rigged, full of "EAIDS" and that FIFA's "time is up" now eFootball is out. Yet he still plays every day... Brags about every win, and cries about every loss being "scripted bullshit".
One of the few hopes I have is that EA see the renewed interest in eFootball and think "maybe we need a slower game / game mode for a certain audience". But why would they care - they make enough money, and the FUT audience will give them billions of dollars forever.
I can't see EA changing their gameplay focus. From the introduction of Frostbite onwards, it's been a steady downhill ride. Last year's addition of "powerups" in the Player Career mode shows that they are 100% in the business of making a cartoon representation of football,
even for offline players.
But whatever FIFA is, the FUT players will play it, because they're addicted to FUT. Fast or slow, silly or realistic. They could make the worst gameplay ever, on purpose, and I don't think it would stop anyone from playing it. They wouldn't even go back to an older FIFA. They're addicts, and the game is designed to get you addicted from the second you enter the mode.
(sorry if i break any rules)
