‘I play for three hours a day’: FC 25 and the videogame franchise that is changing the face of football

With lifelike players and snazzy graphics, the game makes EA Sports more than $1bn a year, but it is not without controversies such the use of ‘lootboxes’ that have been compared to gambling

Phil Foden of Man City and Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool in action in the latest version of EA Sports FC 25

The future of football was invented in Canada in 1993. Oh sure, soccer as we know it now had its origins in Britain in the 19th century — but if you want to trace the trajectory of modern football, you could do worse than follow the rise and rise of the video game known for three decades as Fifa.

The latest incarnation from the US games giant EA is released this week and, compared with its humble genesis in Vancouver in the early 1990s, it represents an astonishing leap in fidelity, authenticity and sheer depth. Last year’s edition — the first under its new branding of EA Sports FC after a licensing row with football’s governing body Fifa — reached 10 million players in its first week alone. This week’s EA Sports FC 25 may not be a revolutionary update but will easily cement its place as one of the most profitable — if divisive — video game franchises ever.

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