FIFA and the Potential Return of Creation Centre - Turbojugend's Blog

Turbojugend's Blog

FIFA and the Potential Return of Creation Centre

Posted on May 12, 2015 at 03:54 PM.

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Discounting a brief obsession with FIFA 98: Road to the World Cup, my first real FIFA experience was with EA's stellar run of football titles on last-gen. From FIFA 08 onward, every yearly iteration represented a quantum leap in both quantity and quality. Over time, FIFA became the one sports title I could not do without, an annual pre-order on instinct.

One of my favorite (and perhaps the most underutilized) features of last-gen FIFA was the brilliant Creation Centre, which allowed players to create nearly any league, team, badge, sponsor and player imaginable, along with corresponding cups and schedules. For instance, let's say you wanted to recreate the entire 1970's-era NASL, with authentic logos and individual player ratings, you could totally do it. Best of all, users could edit their creations via a robust web app built on the Unity engine, allowing endless micro-management. Creators could tweak the subtlest of details on their PC, then download the edits to their console or share them with the millions of FIFA players around the globe. FIFA's Creation Centre was -- and still is -- a wonderland for game editors and the most powerful creation suite in sports gaming.

Yet despite the numerous visual and technological advancements on current-gen FIFA, Creation Centre has gone M.I.A. (it still exists on last-gen as of FIFA 15). One can only guess as to why this is, perhaps a hardware compatibility issue or some other technological snag. Maybe it is a conscious decision on EA's part to focus their attention on more lucrative aspects of the game (looking at you, Ultimate Team). Whatever the case, the days of adding the Football Conference to the English football tier or recreating the Greek league or inserting that shiny new expansion franchise into your MLS career are sadly absent in modern FIFA. And that is a shame.

Just imagine what a Creation Centre reboot might look like: A stadium creator, individual face edits, a wider array of playing styles, kits and hairdos. EA's recommitment to delivering a superior creation suite could elevate the FIFA franchise to new heights, providing a whole new set of opportunities to those who want to create the ultimate personalized FIFA experience for themselves and others.