Football fans are probably familiar with VAR (which stands for Video Assistant Referee), especially after the historic final of the World Cup from the other week, which saw it being used to award France the penalty for an alleged hand ball by Croatia. VAR has been a bit controversial in the actual sport since its introduction- but that is not the reason that it will not be included in FIFA 19 when the game launches later this year.
If you think about it, you probably already know why FIFA 19 won’t have VAR- it’s because, since this is a video game, the game already knows where the ball, the players, their hands, and so on, were at any given time, and awards decisions and penalties based on that. There is no uncertainty or scope for human error here. Speaking to Eurogamer about the omission of the feature from the game, creative director Matt Prior pointed out as much.
“We technically have VAR in the game because we know the pinpoint location of everything,” he said. Which, as far as logic goes, is incredibly hard to argue with. That said, he also admits that there is scope for it to be included in future entries as a mechanic, depending on how commonplace it becomes as part of the football landscape.
“It’s definitely something we’ll monitor,” he said. “If it becomes part of the footballing fabric to the point where it feels weird that it isn’t in a regular game, even if we don’t need it, then it’s something we can look at introducing.”
FIFA 19 launches on the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on September 28.
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