A trailer for FIFA 16 launched on YouTube today to all the usual excitement from eager football fans. What they were not perhaps expecting was that the trailer informed us that, for the first time ever, a FIFA game would feature female football teams. In an industry where sexism accusations are never far from lips or minds, seeing this kind of positive step is a wonderful thing.
We’re not just here to stand and watch. This is our game too.
The trailer shows a number of female football stars during their motion capture performances, which helped to create their in-game likeness. One of the women featured in the upcoming release is England captain Steph Houghton who said of the progress:
The whole team are thrilled to be included in FIFA 16. It’s a really exciting year for women’s football with the forthcoming World Cup and to find out we will be included in FIFA for the first time is a special feeling. To be one of the first female players included in the game is something we’ll always be able to look back on and be proud of. Hopefully it will help raise the profile of the women’s game even further. Quite a few of us in the team play FIFA so I’m sure there will be a bit of banter about our ratings and a few extra competitive games while we’re away in Canada…. I’m looking forward to scoring as myself for the first time!
This is a promising step forward for women in football and women in gaming. With luck, it will be the first of many progressive changes. After sitting on the FIFA sidelines for a long time, women are “in the game.”
