Despite a petition launched for the same which has garnered more than 10,000 signatures, EA Sports’ FIFA 14 will not feature female players.
FIFA 14 producer Sebastian Enrique stated that “it is something we have talked about but there are no plans at the moment”. For the game to feature female players, “there are lots of things we would have to change though, like the physics would be different, it would affect collisions. There are lot of things that are involved”, which includes “new models and hair styles”.
Fernanda Schabarum started the petition, stating that FIFA is “one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time” but “none of the FIFA games has an option for women’s teams or female players”. She found that it didn’t make sense given how 47% of all players are women while “40% of soccer players in the US are girls”.
This isn’t the first time that a major developer refused to allow women in their games but times are quickly a’changing with even the Battlefield and Call of Duty series featuring female soldiers. Maybe next year perhaps for FIFA?