And yet I still can't play as a female character in Assassin's Creed Unity? Why does the video game industry continue to taunt us so?

@htr10: It is funny that you mention that, because I feel like this question and answer from the FIFA 16 interview on GameSpot is a reference to the controversy surrounding female protagonists not in Assassin's Creed Unity

It seemed like there was quite a lot of work to put into this. Can you quantify how much extra development it took?

It's not really something we're looking at because ultimately a lot of these things as I said with hair and body types are across the entire game, and it was something we needed to do to make the women's feature run properly.

Its cool, about time for it to be in there.

That's a nice catch. That answer they gave was about as non-specific as possible though.

@htr10: Oh yeah for sure, and I'm probably reading too much into it. It just reminded me of what that Unity developer said last year and I had a nice laugh.

I don't play FIFA, but as someone that plays another sports game every year (NHL) I can understand the anger. If this is the new feature they're leading with it looks like a skippable year for a sports game. People want major gameplay and mode changes, not some more teams that don't even properly integrate into the main modes everyone plays.

I bet a tiny percentage of people ever even touch this, meanwhile the game still has the same menus and continues to look exactly the same visually as it did last year.

It's obviously a lot more work to add a single good looking and animated female character than it is to add several male ones, based simply on all the work needed to produce the new assets. They also probably had to adjust the menus and screen flow, and add all the new options to the character editor. The long hair/ponytail tech, which a few male models would need anyway, and the exclusive/special female animations were probably where most of the work went, but I bet most of the basic female character animations will be the same as their male counterparts.

It's a cool feature that I don't think will be used much at all, especially if you can't play mixed gender matches.

They add new teams to FIFA every year, on top of gameplay improvements. At this point I don't know what gameplay modes people want, outside of official branded tournaments, like the World Cup and Champions League, which won't happen.

The funny thing is people will bitch about this leading up to release, but they'll still buy it the day it is released.

@rangers517: The game's not out for another 4 months. I'd say the proper time to judge EA's decision to add this mode will depend on what the rest of the additions look like when the game is released in September.

There is literally no rational reason to be upset about it. I sat at my desk this morning reading the news that some people were mad about it and all I could do was laugh. It was either that, or cry. Humans are fucking weird, man.

I was wondering how long it would take for a stupid comment about AC:U. Second page; thread did not disappoint.

Obviously not directed at anyone in this thread but if you're honestly upset about this, you should not be allowed to handle sharp objects without adult supervision.

From reading youtube comments, I see that people are upset because EA hasn't addressed requested gameplay improvements, and they feel like time is spent making the game widely appealing, rather than making the game better. I haven't played fifa in years and I don't care about the news either way, but I can understand people being worried that a beloved game might go down hill in a effort to be more marketable.

This is pretty cool.

I think this is a nice move and all but it's worth noting that the reaction to this hasn't been nearly as negative as some people would have to believe, honestly. I've seen more complaints that you can't have male vs female match-ups than I have against the inclusion of women in the game, and even r/KotakuInAction of all places, aka GG-central, doesn't really give a shit.

What I don't get is how going broad is a bad thing for an annualized sports franchise. I get feeling neglected I guess, but making a few changes for the super fans in a game that sells millions of copies to a very main stream audience at the expense of a feature that could bring in new players is just foolish. There is a growing interest in women's soccer in the US (I can't speak for the rest of the world) and this is the sort of change that could get more girls to check the game out. I mean the game is made to allow people to live out their soccer fantasies, so why not cater to more of them? People already play the shit out of FIFA in its current form so the stagnation of the series doesn't seem to have driven people away so far.

Ridiculous that it's taken so long, but good to finally see it happen.

Dear EA SPORTS add NWSL to FIFA 17 so i can play with the Washington Spirit

The little needling comments like "Yeah that's fine BUT, who really cares about these modes" or "It won't control near as well as the men's teams," bother me more than the overtly sexist ones. This is a video game we are talking about. You are playing the same game in the same engine with slightly different looking character models. Why shouldn't anyone want to play it?

If you have to come up with a bunch of reasons why that part of the game would suck without even seeing how it plays you are probably just a bigoted asshole.

Yup. All the vast majority care about is, "Well, this one has this year's teams." In many ways, Konami pulling out of the market would be the worst thing as it offers no incentive for EA to genuinely rebuild something like they did in 2008. Watch any EA interview from the run-up to 15's release and you get the usual, "Here's a new volley type!" like its a bulletpoint on the box to be hit. EA just tweaks values year in, year out to imply change but no real gameplay additions take place. You could actually add that's harder to do on a yearly cycle due to the art assets required for jerseys and such.

Last year was all about EA's intent to bring matchday atmosphere to the game. The succeeded in the most robotic way possible. This year it's Women's Soccer.

@shindig: which brings us right back to the point that we don't need sports games on a yearly cycle anymore. Roster updates would be nice and then a 2-3 year cycle of new games.

The only soccer (or football as some weirdos call it) that I watch is the USWNT. This inclusion means I may own my first soccer game since Pro Moves Soccer for the Genesis.

This is where I hope this move is headed. I want the leagues so I can play career mode with my daughter. Shes already excited for this. Which makes me more excited for it. I've already pre ordered it.

@hypnotoadbrwowrowrow: well you dont need it but yearly cycles has never been for the players benefit.

I don't play sports games, but this is pretty cool!

Dont know if this got posted yet but more info on the tech update for this. Updating the skeleton and animation systems is a nice fundamental change across the board. Theyll get some nice side benefits in the future beyond just the female characters.

I don't know why EA didn't do this sooner. The US Women's soccer team has been competitive and even victorious over the last decade while the Men's team has floundered. Since people tend to play their own nationality or ethnic background, it seems like a no brainer to me to add the better US team to the mix. What American wouldn't choose to play the US Women's team and have a strong chance to make it to the Cup instead of the Men's team where they'd struggle to get out of the first round?

Strikes me as largely symbolic and fairly meaningless. I doubt they'd have the guts to actually make it realistic so the women were a bit slower and physically weaker than the men so it'll ultimately just be a skin patch on the regular game.

Hopefully there are actually some people who care about playing it for this reason though and it isn't purely just to earn political correctness points.

People who believe they spent time on this at the expense of improving on other game modes is stupid. The FIFA team is massive and they are more than capable of both introducing women's teams and improving other aspects of the game.

Sports games have been iterative for many years with minor changes and this is probably the biggest and best addition they have made in years.

@penguindust: Not that they couldn't have done it sooner. But adding it in a Women's world cup year makes sense