FIFA 13: EA Sells Old Games as New
FIFA: A Game of One Half.
by Daniel Krupa
October 12, 2012

You might have noticed that something’s been missing. IGN hasn’t yet published a review of FIFA 13 on Wii, and the review for the Vita version just went live. Meanwhile, the review for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions has been up for weeks.

This isn’t negligence. In order to bring reviews to you, our readers, in a timely fashion, we’re lucky enough to receive review copies weeks in advance. But this didn’t happen with either the Wii or Vita versions of FIFA 13.

Since my review went live, I’ve had people on Twitter asking me on the whereabouts of the Vita version, and when they could expect to read the review. Around the same time, I also received a worrying tweet. There were rumours that these versions weren’t really new games at all but cynical reskins of last year’s instalments. And having played the Vita version, I can confirm the rumour. (I still haven’t played the Wii version.)

When I use the phrase ‘cynically re-skinned’ I’m aware of how sensational it sounds. It can’t really be all that bad. Can it? But it really is – just look at these menu screens:
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FIFA Football (Soccer) on Vita
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FIFA 13 on Vita
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FIFA Football (Soccer) on Vita
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FIFA 13 on Vita

These have been taken from the main menu and training area. The backgrounds haven’t been updated, and without knowing that Lionel Messi is this year’s cover star you’d be hard-pressed to tell which was the latest iteration. It’s obviously the same character model, adopting the same poses. The menu has been grudgingly spruced up. At the time of writing, FIFA 13 on Vita is priced at £43.99 at HMV on London’s Oxford Street. FIFA Football on Vita can be bought new for as little as £14.99 on Amazon. And they are fundamentally, as far as I can tell, the same game.

We contacted EA about this situation but it wouldn’t go into specifics, providing the following statement:

“FIFA 13 on PS VITA features 30 leagues, 500 officially licensed teams and 15,000 players all wearing this year’s kits and playing for their current teams. It is the same great FIFA gameplay for the PS VITA, including touch-screen controls, and also features popular modes like Career Mode, Be A Pro, and a deep set of online features. We felt it was important to continue to offer fans the opportunity to play an authentic football experience on PS VITA.”

It doesn’t talk about any specific gameplay innovations, focussing on the number of teams and “this year’s kits” and “current team”. It stresses how up-to-date the game is but the gameplay is anything but. ‘Popular’ modes are championed instead of new ones. There isn’t much different from the bullet points on the back of last year’s box, which boasted about “more than 500 officially licensed clubs” and “unique touch-screen controls”.

When FIFA launched on the Vita last year, there was something revealing about its title: FIFA Football (or Soccer, depending on where you live in the world). From the get go, it didn’t pretend to be the same game. While ostensibly alike, it had its own identity, its own set of features to define it – it didn’t masquerade as the same game. This year the name changed, and understandably, so did the expectations. It was called FIFA 13. Surely it was safe to assume that with the same name, the advanced nature of Sony’s handheld, and a year’s worth of time, that the new game would mirror some of the innovations that makes FIFA 13 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 such a great game. But that just isn’t the case. There’s no Match Day. No first-touch control. No advanced dribbling. No attacking intelligence. And yet it dares to have the same name. Like it says in EA’s statement, “It is the same great FIFA gameplay for the PS Vita.”

As for the Wii version, I still haven't managed to get my hands on a copy of the game - but UK site Nintendo Gamer has, and the screenshot gallery posted on the site is shocking. This really is exactly the same game, being sold at full price as a new one.

FIFA 12 (Nintendo Gamer)

FIFA 13 (Nintendo Gamer)

What I find most interesting about this whole farrago is the way in which the Wii and Vita have been treated in the same way. The Wii has already reached its twilight hour but the Vita hasn’t. Despite wobbly initial sales figures and an inconstant supply of games, the Vita is still a new console and surely deserves better than this during its infancy? It deserves innovation, creativity – games that rudely press at the limits of what it’s capable of delivering. Vita means ‘life’ in Latin, but games like FIFA 13 are poison for the still vulnerable handheld. People who purchased the system deserve better than last year’s game in a new full-priced box.

It’s so easy to imagine how all of this could have been avoided: don’t release a full-priced retail game, release the latest kits as shrewdly-priced DLC instead. While this might not be feasible with the Wii version, FIFA Football could have been updated in this way. If EA was only really interested in updating the squads and kits, surely this was the easiest and safest way of providing this type of update?

As it stands, EA is selling last year's game with some new skins and a new title to customers on Wii and Vita without properly explaining it. In my opinion, if you're thinking about buying FIFA 13 on Wii or Vita, don't let yourself be duped.

Daniel is IGN's UK Staff Writer, and you can be part of the world's worst cult by following him on IGN and Twitter.