The eyes of the world right now are focused on FIFA, with the United States levying corruption charges against many top officials . Even as sponsors shy away from associating themselves with FIFA, not only related to the corruption in question but horrific conditions for workers in Qatar which (for now at least) is the host of the 2022 World Cup, EA Sports has a video game to begin promoting. The timing is awfu,l to say the least, but the news is positive and long overdue.
Thursday, the company announced that FIFA 16 will feature 12 women's national teams: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, and USA.
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The FIFA Women's World Cup, taking place in Canada, begins on June 6. The timing of the announcement looks to capitalize on that event but there will be no World Cup mode in FIFA 16. Instead the teams will only be available to use in Kick-Off, Offline Tournament, and Online Friendly modes.
Discussion related the inclusion of women in the FIFA series has been ongoing for a number of years. The Women's World Cup is hugely popular and there's growth stateside with the National Women's Soccer League which features many of the recognizable players from Team USA. There was even a petition that gained significant traction on the matter three years ago.
When asked in 2013 why women wouldn't be in FIFA 14, EA Sports cited difficulties that included having to acquire new licenses, consider different physics, and create new player models and hair styles.
With FIFA 16 the company held a motion capture session with Sydney Leroux, Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, and Megan Rapinoe of the U.S. National Team. Extensive work was done to create realistic player movement and authentic likenesses, player models, and attributes.
Women are a demographic of consumers that have been largely untapped within the sports gaming genre as developers have given them little in the games to relate with. That's most glaring with the respective Career Modes, that offer the opportunity to live out fantasies in the games even though they're often unrealistic in nature, having been limited to male characters.
In the past, female characters have been featured in EA Sports' NHL series (in the game's Career Mode and as created characters), the Tiger Woods PGA Tour series (which is now known as Rory McIlroy PGA Tour) and EA Sports UFC.
FIFA 16 will release on September 22 in North America and worldwide September 25 For PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
Bryan Wiedey posts sports gaming news and analysis daily at Pastapadre.com, is a regular participant in the Press Row Podcast and Hangout shows, and can be reached on Twitter @Pastapadre.