FIFA Ultimate Team explained

Matthew Prior, Line Producer of FIFA Ultimate Team, gives the low-down on this exciting new mode for FIFA 09.

FIFA Ultimate Team is a brand new downloadable game mode coming to FIFA 09 on PS3 that lets players assemble their ultimate squad by collecting and trading thousands of cards. It’s Line Producer, Matthew Prior, talks to playstation.com about what it brings to the FIFA universe.

Where did you get the idea for Ultimate Team?
The idea of introducing a piece of downloadable content to FIFA 09 came from us wanting to pioneer in the online space; I’m not saying we’re going to move away from disc-based games, but there is certainly an appetite out there for alternate means of distribution and we want to be at the forefront of that. Providing updates allows us to keep the game fresh in the time between releases.

The Ultimate Team concept itself expands on a mode we first came up with for UEFA Champions League 2006-2007, which we don’t feel realised its potential. Using that as a starting point, we went about creating something that is unique and we hope that the FIFA community will take to. Most of us in the office have fond memories of taking stacks of trading cards and stickers into school and swapping with each other to build our collections, and we think that small aspect of football culture strikes a nostalgic chord with many.

What makes the gameplay unique, aside from collecting and trading cards?
It’s going to add variety to online play because there are over 4,000 player cards to collect; it’s very unlikely that you’ll play online against the same team twice. At present, when you play someone online there’s a good chance you’re going to be facing Manchester United or Barcelona, but because you are at the whim of opening a random pack of cards in Ultimate Team, everyone is going to be playing with their own side that is unique to them.

What else does it bring to the FIFA 09 experience?
To add depth, we have included gameplay cards which can be used to influence the match. They are not all-powerful, so it still comes down to skill vs skill, and you can only take four of them into a match, but they allow for a sideline influence that may or may not affect the result.

For example, a card may increase the speed of a player or the entire team when played, while another influences the referee’s decisions, and different cards affect differing numbers of players and for varying lengths of time. However, once you use one it is gone, so we expect people to go and play a few matches leading up to a big tournament final in order to buy new packs and stack up their collection of powerful gameplay cards.

Are some cards much rarer than others?
Cards come in bronze, silver and gold varieties, depending on their strength, so by their sheer nature, gold cards are rarer than bronze and silver. But when you buy one of the three types of pack, you have an equal chance of getting any of the cards of that colour. We didn’t want to cheat the user by making one particular player harder to get, but within the trading system, some players will be more sought after and therefore harder to get.

How do you expect the community to use the trading feature?
It’s a real wild card, to be honest. We have tuned the economy but it will be fascinating to see how trades unfold. We’ve implemented an auction system where you can put a card up for trade and give it a starting price of the minimum number of coins you will accept and a buy now price, and then you will be notified when someone bids. What will make trades so diverse is that you can offer up to four cards of your own, in-game coins or a combination of the two to tempt the owner of a card you want.

We can estimate what we believe Robinho or Torres to be worth but when it goes live, we’re sure there are going to be surprises, especially when you bear in mind that one player’s gold is another’s garbage. Because of the importance of team chemistry in Ultimate Team – sticking to your manager’s favourite formation, using players of the same nationality in similar positions and many other factors affect this chemistry – you’re going to be willing to pay more if a particular card fits perfectly into your system.

Do you think anyone will manage to collect every card?
That’s another interesting one. It will take a long time because there are so many, but I’m sure there are a hardcore few out there who will be trying their best. The trading system makes it easier, so at least you’re not just at the mercy of opening pack after pack, but you’re talking a serious amount of time to complete the collection.

Is Ultimate Team the final piece of big downloadable content for FIFA 09?
Yes, I believe it is for FIFA 09. There is nothing set in stone at present.

Are you working on ideas for the next title? Bringing back the indoor arena from FIFA ’97, for example, would be a popular inclusion.
A lot of people ask for that, funnily enough. An advantage of downloadable content is that it lets us tailor the game and bring consumers what they want. We do monitor this kind of feedback on the forums and elsewhere. I noticed that EA Sports has released 3 on 3 NHL Arcade, so maybe we could look at a 6 on 6 FIFA version somewhere down the line.