FIFA is one of gaming's longest running and best-selling series, running annually for over 20 years and boasting lifetime sales of over 100 million. The FIFA series also enjoys being the flagship video game series for the world's most popular sport, football, or "soccer" if you're so inclined. There a number of reasons why the FIFA games continue to celebrate such immense success, such as the fact that FIFA as an organisation is an extremely well-known household name, or the fact that FIFA owns the rights to use hundreds of real teams and thousands of well-known players.
The most important reason for its on-going success, however, is simply that EA has completely cornered the market on football games. Other series have come and gone, and other developers and publishers have tried and failed to make a lasting impression on video game football. Series such as Sensible Soccer or Winning Eleven are prime examples of this, series that simply disappear into obscurity after failing to compete. Even FIFA's prime competitor, Pro Evolution Soccer (PES), struggles to remain truly competitive with football's gaming juggernaut.
For over 20 years, and especially in recent years, FIFA has built up its reputation of being the football game. The most authentic, the best-looking, the most successful. FIFA is extremely successful not just because its a great football series, but because they're also good games in a much more general sense. They play well, their systems are accessible and easy to understand, and they can be enjoyed without any prerequisite interest in football. You only have to have a loose grasp on the rules of football to play and enjoy FIFA games.
Another reason for FIFA's incredible success is that the games are inherently social, making them extremely easy to enjoy with a small group of friends, whether local or online. Their various systems and game modes make it extremely easy for multiple people to play at any one time, and the quick and easy way in which a flexible tournament can be set up further facilitates this social element.
Furthermore, the fairly recent "Ultimate Team" system also creates an element that is both competitive and social in nature. Effectively a virtual trading card mini-game, the Ultimate Team system allows players to buy, trade and flaunt their player cards, which can be organised into customisable teams. Each card has varying degrees of rarity, and naturally each player has their own unique strengths and weaknesses. The Ultimate Team has very cleverly created an on-going economy that can be transferred between games, meaning that when FIFA 15 was released you could easily transfer your personal "FIFA points" from FIFA 14. This system of continuity between games gives players an extra reason to remain loyal to the FIFA series, beyond simply brand loyalty or purchasing habit.
These are just some of the varying reasons why EA and the FIFA series has experienced, and continues to experience, such remarkable success, and why it holds its place as the go-to football video game series. The odds of FIFA ever losing its place as the king of football games to a competing football franchise seem extremely slim at this point. FIFA's formula for updating and releasing new iterations is far too robust to ever really fail: minor gameplay tweaks, improved visuals and updated rosters. All players really want from their football series, and FIFA nails it rather impeccably.
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