Fifa Games Increasing Popularity Of Football In Usa
Article by Steve Reynolds
EA has posted a revealing infographic on its official news site suggesting that the publisher’s FIFA series of soccer sim games is increasing the popularity of the sport stateside.
The publisher cites info from an ESPN sports poll which indicates that 34% of Americans who played FIFA weren’t soccer fans to start with but got into the sport after playing the game. A further 50% of US players admitted taking more of an interest in pro soccer as a result of getting into FIFA.
It’s also shown that America was the second best-selling country for FIFA 14, with 293 million FIFA matches played over 1 year in the US.
Furthermore, EA’s infographic suggests American soccer fans are becoming stronger supporters of their own national MLS league, as opposed to following the Premiership and big European clubs. In the first month since FIFA 15 arrived there has been an 112% increase in the number of times US players chose to play as an MLS team compared to the first month of FIFA 2014.
The most chosen team from the MLS league in the states is the Seattle Sounders, with to date Clint Dempsey being the top goal scorer, hitting the mark 9.6 million times.
