FIFA 16 will include women’s teams for the first time ever
12 women’s national teams will appear in FIFA 16
Well, at least something with the word “FIFA” in its name has some good news this week.
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EA Sports’ FIFA series is one of the best-selling video game franchises in history, and generally a very good one. Like most sports video games, it has dedicated itself to replicating the sport of soccer as dutifully as possible, bringing the teams and players fans care about onto the big (or small, depending on your TV situation) screen.
But there is one thing that the FIFA games have always lacked: women’s teams. Despite the FIFA label, which includes leagues from around the world and not just one, like NBA or NFL games, women’s teams have never made their way into video games for whatever reason.
That will change this year, as EA has announced that FIFA 16 will feature 12 international women’s teams for the first time. The teams included are USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, China and Australia.
The announcement coincides with the buildup to this summer’s women’s World Cup. For many fans (such as those in the U.S.) the women’s cup is just as big a deal as the men’s cup, so it’s a smart move to include these teams in the game.
It took long enough, but this represents progress in a big way.
Now, the fact that there are only 12 teams included is a serious limitation, but it represents the first baby steps toward a future in which all women’s teams, domestic and international, could be included in the game. It could also inspire rival Pro Evolution Soccer to follow suit.
The FIFA series incorporates two industries that are especially male-dominated: sports and video games. Games have increasingly become a man’s world, as last year’s “Gamergate” scandal proved. The mere fact that something like Gamergate had any legs is proof that there’s a big problem in that industry. Most games feature strictly male characters, and men dominate both the game press and make up the majority of players. But that doesn’t mean they are the only players. Hopefully announcements like this will start to usher in a time when women in games are the rule rather than the exception.