From Ping Pong to Advanced 3D: The Evolution of Football Simulators

By 2024, EA Sports FC’s legendary FIFA football simulation games had monopolized the entire market. The once-popular PES simulation couldn’t stand the heat. It seems like EA Sports FC will be with us for a long time. Let’s forget about the gloomy future of Big Brother and look back. With 22bet we will return to the glorious past with developers inventing digital football games, experimenting, and having fun.

Video streams produced by contemporary football game simulations, particularly EA Sports FC, can easily be confused with actual HD TV broadcasts: The technology has gone that far. The gameplay may still lack realism due to the arcade component. There can be weird scripts and epic bugs. However, football simulation games are already close to being ideal, especially when it comes to Electronic Arts’s cooperation with licensed clubs. The players’ depiction is very realistic, and every unique movement is digitalized, including their signature gestures and even tics.

However, the first football video games were not even remotely close to the fantastic machinery we enjoy now. Let’s take a journey into the glorious past.

Ping Pong Instead of Football

The first football game was probably the long-forgotten Binatone TV Master MK IV console. You could play tennis, squash or football. Each version was based on a legendary old-school antique by Atari, known as Pong.

The gameplay was almost similar when choosing football over tennis. Instead of a single racquet line, there was an extra one in the football version. Football as a sport was exclusive for European audiences, while the American audience enjoyed playing ice hockey. The funny thing is that the hockey version didn’t differ from the football one, except for the name!

In 1979, Intellivision presented a new project: a more realistic color NASL Soccer. That was a huge step forward compared to Pong. Graphically, the latest release had 2D players. There were lines and gates on the pitch, and the overall number of players increased, too. There was nothing new in the gameplay except for the ball handling and indistinguishable passes and kicks. Yet, it was good enough to look better than another project – Pele’s Soccer – released by Atari in 1981. Its main advantage was the legendary name: the gameplay and graphics were too primitive. 

Raw Diamonds of the Past

In 1983, the International Soccer simulation game was released for the Commodore 64 computer. It was still the good old NASL Soccer. However, the 2D graphics were of much better quality: there were animated stands reacting when a goal was scored!

A couple of years later, Nintendo Entertainment System released its now iconic console, which is straightforwardly called Soccer. It also had 8-bit graphics and a matching soundtrack.

The First ‘Cyber Soccer War’

The Kick Off video game introduced more gameplay innovations, including unique player features. The gameplay still relied on the overhead view, which became classic. In terms of popularity, it became like the FIFA series a decade later when EA Sports was released. And, just like EA Sports later, Kick Off experienced a rivalry with another franchise.

Sensible Soccer, a football game released for the Amiga and Atari ST, failed to surpass Kick Off graphically, even though it came out a few years later. Yet, some design decisions made it look very attractive and realistic. For example, the developers decided to distance the camera from the pixelated soccer players, thus exposing more than half of the field on the screen, which allowed gamers to simulate ball possession more confidently.

Sensible Soccer was available on more consoles, from the Amiga to the Atari ST to Xbox Live Arcade and even Windows. The series was produced from 1992 to 2007.

One of the most significant advancements in football simulation games of the late 80s and early 90s was the inclusion of actual national teams. This groundbreaking feature allowed players to experience the thrill of representing their country on the virtual field. While playing as a specific player was not yet an option, the ability to control the England national team in a match against Brazil was a thrilling possibility. The game’s realism was further enhanced by the fact that the level of national teams and the quality of their players mirrored the real-world soccer scene, contributing to the game’s growing popularity.

From Here to Eternity

The mid-90s marked a turning point in the football simulation game landscape, as the rivalry between Sensible Soccer and Kick Off began to wane. This was primarily due to the emergence of a new champion. In 1993, Electronic Arts revolutionized the industry with the release of FIFA International Soccer. With its 16-bit graphic design and innovative isometric camera view, this game set a new standard for realism and gameplay. The game’s success was immediate, catapulting it to international blockbuster status.

Even the developers did not expect such a success. In the UK alone, the game sold 500,000 copies in a month. Even in the United States, with comparatively low interest in ‘soccer,’ it topped the charts. The following year, the sequel was released with more success. 

At almost the same time as the FIFA game was released, its future competitor came out. It was branded International Superstar Soccer and soon renamed Pro Evolution Soccer.

The game was inferior to EA Sports FC in graphics and gameplay. Over time, however, it managed to overtake its rival in technical achievements. Pro Evolution Soccer became the choice of players who prefer realism to gloss. However, the last time PES was anywhere close to FIFA was in 2009. After that, it stagnated and regressed.

EA Sports FC from Evolution Arts now stands alone as the top football simulation game.