Despite being added in 2015, women’s football struggles to appeal to FIFA players. Only 7.5% of players in the 2023 edition on PlayStation played a match with women, and it is even worse in 2022 with a rate of 5.6%.
By putting footballer Samantha Kerr on the cover of FIFA 23 alongside Kylian Mbappé, EA Sports hoped to give themselves a progressive side. In the menus of the game, women’s football has never been so well represented. FIFA 23 is the first game in the license to feature clubs from the D1 Arkema (the French league) and the WSL (the English league). In addition to these teams, there are several European leaders, thanks to the Women’s Champions League, and the international teams, present since FIFA 16.
To encourage players to Fifa to take an interest in women’s football, EA Sports came up with the idea of giving a trophy to everyone who starts a women’s game for the first time (they don’t even have to win it). Unfortunately, the percentage of players who obtained the trophy is public. And it’s not glorious.
One of the rarest trophies on PlayStation
Every year since FIFA 16, the trophy corresponding to a women’s match played is one of the least obtained. Numerama used the PlayStation application to see this difference between EA Sports communication and player appetite:
- FIFA 23: 7.6% (PS5) and 8% (PS4) of players got the trophy.
- FIFA 22: 5.6% (PS5) and 6.5% (PS4) of players got the trophy.
- FIFA 21: 4.4% (PS5) and 6.8% (PS4) of players got the trophy.
- FIFA 20: 7.9% of players obtained the trophy.
- FIFA 19: 19.7% of players obtained the trophy.
- FIFA 18: 10.5% of players obtained the trophy.
- FIFA 17: 24.2% of players obtained the trophy.
- FIFA 16: 20.1% of players obtained the trophy.
On Xbox, where we played FIFA 22 since it is included in Game Pass, 4.97% of players have played a women’s game at least once. The numbers are similar to Sony’s, and just as bad.
Why is women’s football of so little interest?
PlayStation data reveals an interesting fact: the percentage of users who have played a women’s game has decreased over the years, despite more intensive communication from EA Sports. The appeal of the novelty of the first editions had its small effect when the women’s teams were added, while events such as the Women’s World Cup in 2019 made it possible to temporarily inflate the figures (19.7% in 2019, twice as much as the year before and the year after).
For 4 years, women’s football has never exceeded 8% usage. We will have to measure the impact of the update for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, which will take place from July 20 to August 20. Logic would dictate that FIFA 23 undergoes a noticeable rise in the percentage, which would allow it to break the trend.
How to explain such a weak interest of the players of Fifa for women’s football, who do not seem curious to test the new teams? Beyond the smaller interest of football fans in women’s competitions, including in real life, EA Sports can be criticized for reserving women’s teams for occasional matches. Most of the popular modes, like FUT or season competitions, are reserved for male teams. Inevitably, that should not help women’s football. Also remember that EA Sports often cuts the prices of these games (even makes them free with the Xbox Game Pass or the PlayStation Plus), which encourages very occasional players to download Fifa. In their case, it is not surprising to see them prefer Kylian Mbappé’s PSG.
Can EA Sports do more things to make women’s football more popular in its future EA Sports FC (the new name of FIFA)? No doubt, but is it really in his interest? From a marketing point of view, EA Sports already manages to make believe that it gives a significant place to women’s football today. The fact that the players are not interested in it is not really his problem, since the men’s teams bring him money.
If you liked this article, you will like the following ones: do not miss them by subscribing to Numerama on Google News.
