Alex Morgan will be joining Lionel Messi on the cover of FIFA 16 for the United States version, while Canada captain Christine Sinclair gets Canadian cover. Electronic Arts made the announcement last Monday.
I’m so honored to be featured on the cover of #FIFA16. Thank you @EASPORTSFIFA! https://t.co/vw73wtfncJ pic.twitter.com/5vp8RLUk1x
— Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) July 20, 2015
Alex Morgan, the soccer star who helped lead the United States Women's National Team to victory in this year's World Cup, expressed her excitement:
"It is an incredible honor to be one of the first women featured on the cover of FIFA, I know people all over the world play this game and I'm really excited that FIFA 16 is putting such an important spotlight on women's soccer. And now to share the cover with today's greatest player is surreal."
Alex Morgan will be joining Lionel Messi on the cover of FIFA 16
The Australian edition of FIFA 16 will also feature a woman, Steph Catley, on its cover. Fifa 16 will feature the women’s national squads of Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, and the United States of America. The women’s teams will represent their respective federations in several FIFA 16 game modes including Kick Off, an offline tournament, as well as Online Friendly Matches.
David Rutter, VP and GM at EA SPORTS FIFA, said:
“Bringing some of the best women’s players and teams in the world to our franchise is a massive event for EA SPORTS, and we are equally excited about bringing millions of fans a new way to play. We’re making sure fans get an authentic experience when playing with Women’s National Teams thanks to our innovative player capture and reference tools, as well as the sophisticated gameplay platform which we will continue to innovate on in FIFA 16.”
Abby Wambach, world record holder for International goals scored and forward, United States Women’s National Team, added:
“I honestly can’t believe all of the science and technology behind the game itself, let alone getting us into the motion capture suits and eventually into the game. We’re all excited to see ourselves in the game, but even more excited to see the reaction from all of the fans, including the fans of our team that maybe wouldn’t be expecting something like this from EA SPORTS.”
The development team responsible for FIFA 16 meticulously researched player movement and likeness to authentically recreate 12 top women’s teams. Development was supported by a motion capture session at EA Canada with four top players from United States Women’s Team: Sydney Leroux, Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, and Megan Rapinoe. In capturing the players’ gestures the FIFA 16 game will now feature new walks, runs, sprints and horizontal movements. Soccer Canada also visited EA to provide full-player references captured using 360 degree body scanning. A mobile head scanning unit travelled to a variety of tournaments and events around the world to capture player images and to ensure that the players in FIFA 16 look as realistic as possible.
Coming September 2015 on XBOX One, PlayStation 4, XBOX 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
