EA Sports Releases Free-to-Play 'FIFA 14' for iOS

[MacRumors]

EA Sports has released FIFA 14 for iOS, the newest iteration in its popular soccer gaming franchise. The release marks the first time that the game is free to play, along with offering in-app purchases for use with FIFA's Ultimate Team feature that allows users to collect and trade FIFA players, play styles, formations and kits and use them in-game. The game features over 16,000 players from over 600 licensed teams in 33 leagues, and features new touch controls that allow for easier gestures such as tap to pass and swipe gesture shooting.

REAL PLAYERS. REAL TEAMS. REAL LEAGUES. Welcome to the most authentic football game on the App Store. Feel the excitement of every pass, shot, and tackle with new touch controls. Plus, live every moment of real-world football mastery with EA SPORTS(TM) Football Club Match Day. Get in there!

EA Sports also released the first free-to-play version of its other popular sports franchise, Madden NFL 25, last month. FIFA 14 can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Article Link: EA Sports Releases Free-to-Play 'FIFA 14' for iOS

 

[mrat93]

Yay for freemium!

 

[cclloyd]

What sort of iAPs could be in this I wonder?

$3.99 - Fundementals skill pack! Allows your players to dribble the ball across the whole field!

 

[JaySoul]

"TOUCH CONTROLS!"

What other kind of control would work on an iPhone?

 

[cclloyd]

"TOUCH CONTROLS!"

What other kind of control would work on an iPhone?

MFi Controller

 

[rmwebs]

Average Joe:

"Wow Fifa for free...fantastic!"
<downloads and plays>
"Wait...so I have to pay $2.99 every time my team wins?"

Death to IAP.

 

[Phil A.]

I hate the freemium model: I'd much rather pay for something once and know it's paid for. Some of the IAP prices these freemium apps charge are scandalous

 

[Lord Hamsa]

This isn't your standard paywall freemium game. The basic game is free, but to use any of the additional modes (such as "career" mode for managers), you essentially buy an expansion as a 1-time IAP.

The additional IAP for the "ultimate team" is the same as FIFA 13, no real difference there.

Biggest change I'm seeing so far is a gesture-based control system as an option (and the default option) as opposed to the virtual joystick/keypad model that's been used in the past.

 

[Razeus]

I want to get the Madden one, but do these games work "as-is" or do they FORCE me to do an in-app purchase to play the game with standard functionality.

 

[Lord Hamsa]

I want to get the Madden one, but do these games work "as-is" or do they FORCE me to do an in-app purchase to play the game with standard functionality.

Define "standard functionality".

Looking at my copy, it's the full game with three exceptions:

1) "Kick Off" mode that allows you to select the two specific teams you want to play in a single match against the AI (note that the free version includes "Games of the Week" mode that is a list of predefined matchups from leagues all over the world)

2) "Manager" mode to sign with a team and play full seasons, improve the team, switch clubs between seasons, etc.

3) "Tournament" mode to take one of the defined teams (with current real roster) through a specified tournament (e.g., the FA Cup)

The free game has:

1) "Games of the Week" which appears to be 6 matchups selected from various leagues, presumably from the upcoming week's schedule (though I have one for Oct 19 for some reason). Pick a side and try to win.

2) "Online Quick Match" - online head-to-head for when you're bored of the AI

3) "Penalty Shootout"

4) "Ultimate Team" which is the card-pack based IAP monster that they introduced last year. I believe this is supposed to work across systems (PS/XBox/iOS/etc.)

Right now, the IAP price for the expansion is $4.99 (US). I'm holding off while I learn the game because EA often has sales.

Contrast to Madden 25 which has "energy" timers and you have to unlock parts of the playbook with levels and/or coins.

 

[blue22]

freeium needs to die...

With so many people hating their IAP system how the heck is EA still in business for the mobile platform?!

 

[Qfic]

Its awful!
5$ if you want the ACTUAL full game, ie manager, tourney, or kick off mode, then a separate 5$ for FUT and then there are the packs... sigh.
What is more insulting is that there has been no update to gameplay or graphics over ios FIFA 13 except for badly implemented touch controls that you switch over to 'classic' controls anyway.
Jack Wilshere is a generic player model FFS!!!
EA sucks!

 

[SBlue1]

Does it require to be online all the time? I downloaded Madden since it was free to play to have it in my vacation, only to find out it needs to be online just to play it! Of course I had no internet in my hotel or at the beach.

 

[ersenio]

****** you EA games.... What the hell are you doing????

 

[Lord Hamsa]

Does it require to be online all the time? I downloaded Madden since it was free to play to have it in my vacation, only to find out it needs to be online just to play it! Of course I had no internet in my hotel or at the beach.

No, you do not have to be online. I've actually told it not to use cellular (in the phone's Settings), and I can play it off network just fine. Ultimate team probably requires a connection for any transactions, though, and commentary isn't included in the initial download, so make sure you load the language(s) of your choice before going off network.

 

[keysofanxiety]

I really don't see a problem with the freemium style. EA really nailed this one.

$6.99 -- buys you a football. Just one. If you kick it into the crowd, they keep it and you have to buy another one. That's quite realistic: real quality footballs cost WAY more than that.

$9.99 -- buys you a footballer -- just a goalie, though. Strikers start from $14.99, defenders cost $13.99. Also, it's $4.99 per game for their wage; $4.99 per footballer. Starting wage. The better they get, the more it'll cost to keep them, of course! (props to EA for realism)

So, you've got your team, and you've got your football. But you need a pitch to play on, don't you! $24.99 for a football field. To rent. Per match.

Lose a game? Oh dear, you're in trouble. Your sponsors don't like it when you lose. Pay a fine of $4.99 to appease them. Losing games = losing money; it's only fair.

Draw a game? Hmm, not very good. One point won't get you very far in the Premiership. A mere fee of $2.99 will allow your PR guy to help you not lose money or sponsors.

Win a game? Congratulations! People are REALLY interested in your team. Now you can get some sponsors! A mere $9.99 to take up a new sponsor.

And the GREAT thing about sponsors is that they each give you 4 virtual 'Ballcoins' for purchases* which can be used in the game!**

*'purchases' include the following two options: ball boy, mascot dressed as a giant squirrel.
**one use only. You must pay $2.99 in order to use the 'Ballcoins'.

 

[Lord Hamsa]

It's amusing (and somewhat saddening) to see all the ill-directed IAP hate in this thread.

if EA released the full game for $4.99, no one would complain. Instead, they release a fully-functional game for free, with a $4.99 IAP if you want to use all of the game modes instead of a subset of them, and people are like "IAP sucks! EA is the devil!"

Either way, it's $4.99 for the full game. If you don't want the locked features, then you get it for free instead of $4.99.

Isn't this what everyone says IAP should be like? One-time upgrades to unlock more content?

Now, anyone who wants to rag on ultimate team, I'm right there with you. But that's not new for FIFA 14, so it's a wash compared to last year's game.

 

[AFPoster]

I hate the freemium model as well. This is so gay! I understand it makes money so I see the value, but I hate consistently having to pay for features, perks or bc I ran out of something.

 

[50548]

Yay for freemium!

More of this freemium IAP CRAP. When is Apple going to allow us to, at the very least, EXCLUDE IAP apps from search results?

----------

What sort of iAPs could be in this I wonder?

$3.99 - Fundementals skill pack! Allows your players to dribble the ball across the whole field!

What about $5.99 for being able to kick a ball to the goal?

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I'm not normally one to talk about graphics but gosh those are horrid looking models! Those player models look like they're made up of ~100 polygons... it's about what the N64 was capable of nearly two full decades ago and the iPhone has been more than capable of since the first one was introduced.

 

[roadbloc]

Ugh. Fifa. In app purchases. EA.

Three things I dislike about the games industry in one app. I'll pass.

 

[iSee]

More of this freemium IAP CRAP. When is Apple going to allow us to, at the very least, EXCLUDE IAP apps from search results?

----------



What about $5.99 for being able to kick a ball to the goal?

Freemium isn't always bad. E.g., suppose it's a game that includes the first level for free and it costs $5 to unlock the rest of the levels?

(Doom itself was distributed under this model... not exactly crap!)

The problem with freemium is, you don't know what the game really costs... and we've all heard (or experienced) the nightmare stories where you effectively have to keep tapping the "buy" button to make progress in the game. We all want to avoid that, but rejecting all freemium is just capitulating to fear itself.

What honest publishers should do is 1) only use simple, close-ended IAP and 2) make it as crystal clear as possible what the ultimate cost to complete the game is.

I think Apple could help a lot with this.
E.g.,
(1) support demo apps with a single "unlock" IAP and mark such apps clearly.
(2) For apps with a fixed set of IAP, list all of them, their prices and total price. (3) Slap loud warnings all over apps that sell consumables, or better yet, ban them. If they are allowed, track and display the $ spent (filtering out people that don't really use the app).


edit: by the way, can we get rid of the term "Free-to-play"?
The whole problem with IAP is people are uncertain of the real costs... using a misleading term like this makes it worse... Apps with IAP are designed to NOT be free to play.

 

[Am3r1ca16]

Its awful!
5$ if you want the ACTUAL full game, ie manager, tourney, or kick off mode, then a separate 5$ for FUT and then there are the packs... sigh.
What is more insulting is that there has been no update to gameplay or graphics over ios FIFA 13 except for badly implemented touch controls that you switch over to 'classic' controls anyway.
Jack Wilshere is a generic player model FFS!!!
EA sucks!

I really don't see what you're complaining about. Compared to FIFA 13 where you have to pay $6.99 to even play the game. FIFA 14 at least lets you try out the game before buying the full game. And it's cheaper it's $4.99.

FIFA Ultimate team does charge more if you want to buy the packs and what not but that was like that in FIFA 13z and it's also like that in the PS3 and xBox console as well.

 

[bwfc0907]

So do we know if they have integrated gamepad control for ios 7 for when one is released.

I quite like the touch features but can't beat a gamepad.

 

[roadbloc]

(Doom itself was distributed under this model... not exactly crap!)

It wasn't exactly freemium. More a rather long demo to get people hooked. It didn't have any in app purchases and like all demos you were simply asked to consider buying the full game upon completion. I feel if Apple's App Store had a demo/try button like the Android and Windows ones do, we would see a notable decrease in freemium releases as there appears to be simply no way to try apps before you buy them.