There was a time, in the dim and distant past of gaming, when the most popular titles were invariably space-based and revolved around shooting aliens or other enemies. Video game arcades were full of these kinds of titles, with sporting games glaringly absent. Basketball, hockey, and football games slowly started to appear but soccer was regarded as a sport too complicated to replicate – as far as US companies were concerned anyway.
Now there are a whole host of game types available, with top esports like CS:GO and Dota 2 being played by professionals and featuring on all the top California sports apps . But those apps also carry markets for the top soccer game too. Soccer titles have taken over the sports gaming world and it could be argued that they have also influenced the way people all over the globe – and especially in the US – engage with the sport.
This article will look at how soccer gaming became such a big deal and how one title above all became synonymous with soccer video games. The story has evolved even further in the last few years with another new title becoming popular. But, let’s go back to the start to see where the global phenomena that is soccer games began.
The Beginnings of FIFA
As mentioned, even by the early 1990s, soccer was still not regarded as a viable subject for a top-selling game. The US had not even hosted its first World Cup finals and the popularity of the game in the country in the 1970s had long gone. But developers at EA were keen to bring the sport to the masses – even in places where the game was not being played.
The first title in what has become one of the biggest sports game franchises in history was eventually called FIFA International Soccer and was released in 1993. A year later, club teams were included and the game became a little more like the giant it turned into. By the 2000s, technological advancements and licensing agreements made FIFA one of the most popular games on the market. But there were still other options for soccer gaming fans.
The Competition
There had always been other soccer titles available but for a long time the main choice for aficionados was between FIFA and Pro Evo Soccer. The EA Sports game had become very popular thanks to its official tie-ins but the Konami Pro Evo Soccer game, lovingly referred to as “PES”, was thought to be superior by many.
EA persisted with making its FIFA title as realistic as possible, with players moving just like the professionals and all the intricacies of soccer being incorporated into the finished product each year, However, although PES remained the choice for those in the know, the lack of licensing agreements gave it the perception of a budget, knock-off title. A lack of official game status eventually saw the main competition fall away and FIFA was now the one and only title for soccer gaming fans.
The Professional Seal of Approval
It was not just the billions of dollars spent on the annual FIFA titles and millions of gamers around the world that proved that FIFA had become the top soccer title – and one of the top titles in any genre. FIFA also quickly established a reputation as the game of choice for actual professional soccer athletes.
Each edition of the game was eagerly anticipated by all gamers, none more so than the athletes whose likenesses were portrayed by FIFA. Some of the top players in the world have reportedly complained about being marked down in the ratings and there have been numerous examples of exasperated coaches banning the game from being played by their squads before actual soccer games.
The End of the Agreement
The FIFA series helped soccer become one of the most popular sports in the world among gamers. The annual release of NBA and NFL franchise titles have also proved incredibly popular, of course. But soccer is known in many circles as the “world’s game” and that meant that soccer was now ruling the electronic world as well.
For those of you who may not know, FIFA is the governing body of soccer and had seen how much money EA had made off its name since the 1990s. So, when the licensing agreements were coming up for renewal at the beginning of the 2020s, it decided to play hardball and raise its prices. The belief was that EA’s game would be nothing without the FIFA name and the game developers would pay up to stay at the top of its own game. However, EA decided that it held all the cards, retaining a number of important licenses and planned to release EA Sports FC 24 at the usual time of the year in 2023.
Soccer Gaming is Still “FIFA”
FIFA had originally stated that gamers would only want to play an official FIFA title but that boast has really backfired in the last few years. EA Sports FC has most recently released its 2025 version and gamers are still looking to the title for their soccer fix. More importantly, it is this game that is played by the professional esports athletes and regarded as the most important.
What is interesting though, is that many gamers still refer to the new EA title as “FIFA”. Those four letters have become a byword for the top soccer game. The agreement between the governing body and EA Sports may not be in place anymore but the millions of players still use the term when referring to the game. It may not have been FIFA’s plan (as in the governing body) but “FIFA” still means a lot in the soccer gaming community – and continues to help soccer remain one of the most popular sports in gaming.
