EA Sports
FIFA 20 Gaming Insights
With viewership unexpectedly down, EA wanted an objective audit of their latest FIFA release. What changes could net positive impacts? Our findings uncovered unique opportunities for FIFA 20… but were indicators of the changing gaming consumer that affects every game going forward.
Like most things, gaming has changed with each new generation. Businesses like EA lead culture by understanding the motivations and passions of their consumer.
For FIFA 20, something was missing.
We dove head first with their team on a mix of primary and secondary research to uncover the missing objective data and insight that could explain the low viewership.
SECONDARY INSIGHTS
We started with a deep dive into secondary — leaning into our previous ALMANAC research on entertainment, with a detailed competitor analysis, supported by academic research on the motivators of gaming and esports viewership.
The results brought to life the larger generation curve underway. What once was a simple ‘quarter for entertainment’ exchange of Gen X has become a lifestyle; gaming is fashion, entertainment, culture and competition unbound by the gates of traditional sport and allows accessibility that all Zs have come to expect.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
Our findings informed our research approach to define how consumers felt FIFA stacked up to their ideals. Through extensive surveying of thousands of FIFA players, we were able to point to the gaps in functionality and sentiment — and prove some hypothesis while disproving others.
Through a mix of descriptive and diagnostic analytics, we located drivers of play frequency, watch frequency and game sentiment.
We supported our findings with an extended diary study that broke down motivators and gave a voice to the data we’d seen proven in our broader research. We spoke to FIFA lovers, haters, watchers and players, coding our responses and digging deeper into the “why” with multiple series of video prompts and questionnaires across essential user types.
Then we tested it with the pros.
Finally, we wanted to get takes from people who spent the most time with FIFA — the pros — so we conducted in-depth 1:1 interviews with the best in the game.
Fueled by an extensive discussion guide informed by our cumulative research, we got at the heart of their problems and their passions, to reveal constructive, actionable critiques of FIFA for EA.
The result? A robust findings presentation, parsed by game, viewers and live events that delivered “expertly against the brief.” Our partners at EA have taken these findings and strategic recommendations to heart, using them to inform FIFA 21 and other releases beyond.
