- EA yearly soccer sim FIFA 21 is set to release on Oct. 9.
- To commemorate the launch, EA’s is hosting the FIFA Celebration.
- It promises 22 hours of virtual performances from over 40 artists, giveaways, and more FIFA-themed fun.
With the full worldwide release of FIFA 21 a little over a week away, EA’s marketing machine is working overtime. With FIFA 21 set to follow the long-standing tradition of yet another low-effort reskin, it doesn’t have a choice.
It went so far as to slyly insert an advertisement for FIFA 21’s loot box-all-but-in-name Ultimate Team card packs into a UK toy store’s catalog. For obvious reasons, that didn’t sit too well with anyone with a moral compass, forcing EA to concede that it had overstepped the mark in a pretty feeble press statement. EA says it has now pulled the ad.
You win some; you lose some, isn’t that right, EA?
FIFA 21 World Celebration
Anyway, onto the next. EA revealed today what it describes as a ‘Bombastic, Can’t-Miss Barrage of All Things FIFA.‘ It kicks off today under the name FIFA World Celebration. It promises 22 hours of ‘global virtual concerts, vanity giveaways, and more.’
Plunging into its micro-transaction bolstered coffers, EA has paid the big bucks to secure the services of over 40 artists, including big-name acts like Diplo, Dua Lipa, and Tame Impala.
If tempted by a brief, hopefully mellifluous, reprieve, you can check out the full schedule over on FIFA 21’s official site. Each of the artists is beaming their performance from their respective social channels.
You’d be excused for struggling to find the link with a football sim other than EA flaunting its latest pricey FIFA soundtrack. Nevertheless, hats off to EA for spending the equivalent of a smaller publisher’s yearly marketing budget to distract us from an inevitably underwhelming game.
It has me wondering how good FIFA 21 could be if EA put their marketing efforts into development, or just stopped wasting development time concealing minor feature improvements under nonsensical buzz words. ‘Positioning personality’ and ‘improved super cancel mechanics’…what?
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