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Is Fifa 20 the worst Fifa of the last 5 years?

18.6.2020

Translation: machine translated

User royalprinz99 awards one star to the latest football game in the Fifa series. "The worst Fifa **of the last 5 years" is written on the posters of the latest digitec campaign. Is he right?

Fifa is by far the most popular football game on the market and is one of the best-selling games in Europe every year. This is despite criticism of the integrated money-burning machine "Fifa Ultimate Team" (FUT for short). The criticism seems to leave manufacturer EA cold. In FUT, players can buy virtual cards that each represent a football star. The better the star, the rarer and more expensive the card. It allows players to use the virtual star in a team and then compete against other players. The better the line-up, the better the chances of victory.

There are two ways to get hold of these cards: Buy virtual packs with random contents or buy individual cards from other FIFA players in the auction house. This is done using Fifa's own currency, known as coins, which are rewarded for winning games and tournaments or bought with real money. It takes ages to earn enough coins for Messi, Ronaldo and co. If you pay real money, you have more coins faster and can afford more packs or players in the auction house. It is therefore very tempting to invest real money instead of spending days playing Fifa for a handful of pennies.

However, opening packets does not guarantee a hit. The story of player "Castro", who bought virtual packs for 6000 euros, shows just how rare the best players are. Not a single one of the coveted "Team of the Year" players was among the cards opened. This has caused resentment in the Community for years and in some cases even violates gambling laws.

But back to the poster campaign and the theory that Fifa 20 is the worst Fifa of the last five years. Ultimate Team is the main point of criticism from royalprinz99, alongside the delayed controls, the 30 FPS and the new passing system.

Has the hand(game) and foot(ball)?

What's the truth in royalprinz99's opinion? Is Fifa 20 actually the worst Fifa of the last five years or is this just another opinion from an internet troll? There's a pretty solid way to tell. On the one hand, we can summarise your ratings if there is enough data available. On the other hand, reviews from the specialised press provide information on whether the game has also been rated poorly and whether it is not just a single subjective opinion.

Digitec Score

The database at digitec is not really great. Although you rate our products diligently, there are always several versions of games that are rated individually. As a result, some scores for certain platforms are completely missing, which I have taken into account. The evaluation does indeed show that Fifa 20 is the worst Fifa of the last five years, albeit only just. A score of 3.63 out of a maximum of 5 on average across all platforms, while Fifa 18 with 3.7 and Fifa 19 with 3.93 are also below the 4 mark. You prove royalprinz99 right!

Data [[table:2666]]

Metacritic userscore

The users of the review aggregator "Metacritic" are known for expressing their displeasure about unsuccessful games and films with rock-bottom scores. Fifa is no different. Only Fifa 15 was rated above average, albeit just 5.1 out of 10 on average. Fifa 20 received a merciless thrashing from Metacritic users: the football game scored 1.1. You can't really get any lower than that.

Data [[table:2670]]

Metacritic Review Score FIFA 20 - FIFA 15

Buyers tend to vent their frustration and not rate a product objectively, resulting in a subterranean rating. royalprinz99 has done this and awarded one star. But what do the critics say who don't just want to vent their anger about a failed feature? The review evaluation at Metacritic also shows: Fifa 20 is the worst Fifa of the last five years, and clearly so. The critics awarded an average of 76.67 points out of 100 across all platforms. All other editions of the last five years were rated above 80. This means that royalprinz99's statement is also correct here.

Data [[table:2674]]

Metacritic Alltime Score

Is Fifa 20 perhaps the worst Fifa of all time? To find out, I compiled the data for all games since the Xbox was released, i.e. since 2001. Before that, there was Fifa, but the data from Metacritic is incomplete. And lo and behold. Fifa 20 is actually the worst Fifa of all time. Only Fifa 06 and 05 were rated just below 80 on average. Fifa 20 is around 3 percentage points lower at 76.67 per cent.

Data

Bad reviews, good sales figures

The FIFA series is on a downward spiral. What was once a constant is getting worse and worse. Ratings above 85 points used to be a regular occurrence. Since Fifa 14, the reviews have remained below this brand on average. One criticism is that apart from the latest squads, hardly any innovations find their way into the annual Fifa releases. The career mode, once the centrepiece of Fifa, has only been marginally polished for years. The game mechanics only change slightly from year to year, as EA doesn't want to offend the paying "Ultimate Team" players, and the graphics are already stretching the current consoles to the limit, which is why they stop at 30 FPS. The new console generation raises hopes for innovations. However, EA is keeping quiet about the successor Fifa 21. No trailer, no information on the release date or improvements. But one thing is clear: the Ultimate Team system will hardly be changed. The business with the virtual Messis, Ronaldos and Neymars is too lucrative and the investors are too greedy for even more profit.

Even if you and the critics penalise the next version of FIFA, the game will still sell like hot cakes. The poor ratings on digitec or Metacritic don't seem to matter to buyers. Digitec has already sold almost as many Fifa 20 copies as Fifa 19 copies in total.

Video games

CHF17.73

EA Games FIFA 20

PC, Multilingual

Video games

EA Games Fifa 20 (including bonus DLC)

Xbox One X, Xbox Series X, Multilingual

Video games

EA Games FIFA 20

PS4, Multilingual

Video games

CHF17.73

EA Games FIFA 20

Video games

EA Games Fifa 20 (including bonus DLC)

Video games

EA Games FIFA 20

All data is from March 2020

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Simon Balissat

Teamleader Editorial

Simon.Balissat@digitecgalaxus.ch

When I flew the family nest over 15 years ago, I suddenly had to cook for myself. But it wasn’t long until this necessity became a virtue. Today, rattling those pots and pans is a fundamental part of my life. I’m a true foodie and devour everything from junk food to star-awarded cuisine. Literally. I eat way too fast.

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