FIFA 14 For PC Won't Use Ignite Engine

[StewShearerOld]

FIFA 14 For PC Won't Use Ignite Engine

While the Xbox One and PS4 versions of FIFA 14 will use EA's new Ignite engine, the PC edition will be left out of the game.

Much ado was made at Microsoft's Xbox One unveiling about EA's <a href=http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/05/21/a-look-at-ea-sports-39-next-gen-engine.aspx>new Ignite engine, which will be at the core of several of its major sports titles in the near future. The engine will apparently allow for faster behind-the-scenes calculations and better animations which should help make for better, more realistic experiences for the sports games built on its foundation. That said, it's been confirmed that certain versions of some EA sports games won't be utilizing the Ignite engine, namely FIFA 14 for PC.

Communicating via Tweet, Rob Hodson, EA's community manager for the FIFA series, revealed that the PC version of FIFA 14 wouldn't be utilizing the Ignite Engine. Responding to some follower's questions he wrote, "EA SPORTS IGNITE will power FIFA 14 on Xbox One and PS4, not PC." EA's reasoning behind the use of a lesser engine is yet unknown but past actions could shed light on the rationale behind the decision.

When visuals on the PC were inferior to its console counterparts.

On the one hand, it makes sense for EA to be interested in making sure FIFA, which enjoys <a href=http://www.gamespot.com/news/fifa-13-sales-hit-145-million-simcity-up-to-16-million-6408046>wide popularity around the world, to be accessible to as many players as possible. That said, if the improvements offered by the Ignite engine wind up being truly dramatic, the continued hobbling of PC versions could arguably convince people to abandon them for console next-gen console editions, in which case a wider range of capable PCs won't matter all that much.

Source: DSO Gaming

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[BakedZnake]

Is EA really trying to fuck with the PC community or something? This is taking the mic. Years of dodgy DRM, online passes, always online, and now a crappy version of a console port? REALLY?!

 

[Not Lord Atkin]

oh, EA's at it again well it's not like the obviously (and kind of crappily) pre-rendered trailer was enough.

...oh well...

*munch* popcorn, anyone? *crunch*

 

[Marter]

At least the FIFA games are still coming out on PC. The NHL series hasn't seen a PC release since, what, 2009?

Still, it's too bad that the versions aren't using the same engines.

 

[sid]

Explain to me something. Just how much work does it take to make a game on an absolutely different engine than its default with the single objective of DEMEANING it?

 

[BrotherRool]

People say this is a bad business decision, but I'm not sure if it is. This is FIFA we're talking about that's got way further appeal than the PC elite spectrum and they probably do stand to make money off guys with laptops buying the game.

It's always a weird decision trying to pitch a PC game because you've got to figure out, not only what specs are common in the market, but what section of that market is your target demographic. Like most people who can't run the Metro or whatever probably weren't interested in getting it in the first place, or have consoles and Crysis' target demographic was 'people who have ridiculously expensive computers' but I don't think FIFA is that sort of a game (but also the sort of person who plays FIFA on a laptop probably doesn't have a gamepad plugged in and so is playing an inferior game regardless of engine used)

 

[Rituro]

*munch* popcorn, anyone? *crunch*

Thank you. Much appreciated. *munch*

Anyhoo, not really an issue, folks. The next FIFA will likely come out on Origin anyway and, correct me if I'm wrong, but people don't seem all enamored with that platform, either.

 

[sid]

People say this is a bad business decision, but I'm not sure if it is. This is FIFA we're talking about that's got way further appeal than the PC elite spectrum and they probably do stand to make money off guys with laptops buying the game.

It's always a weird decision trying to pitch a PC game because you've got to figure out, not only what specs are common in the market, but what section of that market is your target demographic. Like most people who can't run the Metro or whatever probably weren't interested in getting it in the first place, or have consoles and Crysis' target demographic was 'people who have ridiculously expensive computers' but I don't think FIFA is that sort of a game (but also the sort of person who plays FIFA on a laptop probably doesn't have a gamepad plugged in and so is playing an inferior game regardless of engine used)

But you need to consider that FIFA isn't a gas guzzler in the league of Crysis or Metro, in fact it's a game that has hardly seen any significant changes beyond the MMO equivalent of a patch over the past 4 or 5 years (more maybe, I only know about FIFA up to that point). Unless they're doing some horrible misusage of the processing power, most non-gaming PCs purchased this decade could probably handle it. Maybe not at max settings, but isn't that why you have settings in the first place? To cater to wider ranges of PCs?

 

[BrotherRool]

But you need to consider that FIFA isn't a gas guzzler in the league of Crysis or Metro, in fact it's a game that has hardly seen any significant changes beyond the MMO equivalent of a patch over the past 4 or 5 years (more maybe, I only know about FIFA up to that point). Unless they're doing some horrible misusage of the processing power, most non-gaming PCs purchased this decade could probably handle it. Maybe not at max settings, but isn't that why you have settings in the first place? To cater to wider ranges of PCs?

Yes but for that entire time they were designing the game to work on consoles with 512mb RAM which was their bottleneck. And now they're making it for consoles with 8GB RAM. And power is a lot more effective on consoles for what it's worth because consoles are a lot cleaner. What ran on 512mb on a PS3 required 3-4GB on a PC.

And a football game is the exact scenario where settings don't work. Because all the load they're talking about here is on the AI. What can you do? Have an option where the computer runs only half of the AI needed to progress? I don't think there really can be any middle steps if they built a whole new engine to make it work, and from their perspective, is it even worthwhile? FIFA sells way more on consoles, consoles only have one set of hardware and if people on PCs really want to play FIFA then they'll probably suck up and buy the version that looks less pretty and is a little less intelligent.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

EA: "We tried to get Ignite to run on PC, but our preliminary tests weren't promising.

"On an unrelated note, we're happy to announce that we've scaled Ignite to run on mobile platforms, and will be releasing mobile versions of Madden and FIFA later on this year."

This Satire or did they actually say that?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

It's a good thing that I don't give two shits about FIFA. I don't care about PES either but if Konami uses their new engine to power the PC version of the game, I'll buy it just to spite EA.

 

[Charli]

And yet they're still trying to push Origin. Take a stance EA, you can't trumpet the PC out one side of your mouth and neglect it out the other. Valve, while not the angelic deities some paint them as at least know their audience and try everything to keep that audience happy. You just keep forgetting what you said to each person you speak to.

One day you could be for puppy murder and then turn around tomorrow and claim you have no idea what people are talking about and that you love puppies.

Sort your PR department out, work out your focus and deal only with that. Otherwise keep quiet on the matters you don't particularly feel ARE your focus and then people will begin viewing them as fun extras and not feel like a bit bewildered when you warmly welcomed them and then snubbed them for the rest of the evening. Like they just showed up to the party having no idea who's party it was, ate a few nibbles, talked to a few people, had fun and left never knowing you were the one hosting it until after they left. They're likely to still attend your parties that way.
They don't need to hear about how you don't think they're worth the effort.

[sub]On a related note I really don't care about all these stupid sport games but I do feel bad for little jimmy down the road who is now an avid PC gamer and has a fondness for these crappy sports sim games. [/sub]

 

[unstabLized]

oh, EA's at it again well it's not like the obviously (and kind of crappily) pre-rendered trailer was enough.

...oh well...

*munch* popcorn, anyone? *crunch*

Gimme some. EA and Microsoft are ALWAYS fun to watch. *Crunch* oooh buttery... *munch*

 

[Ticklefist]

PC versions of the NHL games, up through NHL 09, were all ports of the PS2/Xbox versions. They stopped making them after that. Probably blaming piracy on the lack of sales. Won't be surprised if this turns out to be no different.

 

[Ticklefist]

PC versions of the NHL games, up through NHL 09 were all ports of the PS2/Xbox versions. They stopped making them after that. Probably blaming piracy on the lack of sales. Won't be surprised if this turns out to be no different.

 

[octafish]

That doesn't bother me too much, I still have a few years yet in FIFA12 before I'll need a new football game. Maybe around 2016 or so?

 

[ASnogarD]

I can sort of understand why...

A super engine designed for next gen consoles!

... that runs easily on current PC's, oh wait what was so next gen again.

Then again I don't think the PC community really bothers much with sports franchises, so the multi player aspect suffers on a PC so it best to get such games on consoles.
Armchair sportsmen really appreciate their armchairs

... but pissing on your customers tends to make them less likely to come to your shop as well, so its no wonder the market is limited, and many fools think they will be 'punishing EA' by going to the bay for the game.
Hint: You ain't punishing EA, just the devs and the PC market as a whole, giving EA justification for not supporting the PC market.

Best way to administer punishment to EA: Dont pirate AND dont play the title... dont be a stat on the bay EA can point at, and dont add to the bottom line so EA feels the pinch.