Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This FIFA International Soccer commercial kicked off one of the biggest franchises in gaming history almost by accident. Developed by EA Canada's Extended Play Productions team in Burnaby, with support from EA's UK office in Guildford, the game released for the Sega Mega Drive in December 1993 under the working title EA Soccer, built by a team of just ten developers led by Bruce McMillan. They chose an isometric camera angle specifically to stand apart from the market leading Sensible Soccer and Kick Off, which both used top down views.
The licensing story behind this game is honestly the best part. EA signed a five year deal directly with FIFA for what turned out to be minuscule royalty payments, and the reason became obvious once they read the fine print. The license did not actually include any real team logos, player names, likenesses or stadiums, so the game only features national teams identified by country names and flags, with every single player name completely made up, several of which were just developers sneaking their own names onto the roster. EA even considered releasing it in North America as Team USA Soccer instead, worried Americans would not recognize the FIFA name, before deciding against it and going worldwide with one title.
It clearly worked out anyway. The game sold 400,000 copies in the UK in just the final two weeks of December 1993 alone, stayed at number one on the UK charts into early 1994, and topped the Super NES sales chart in the US that following June. Mean Machines Sega gave it a glowing review calling it the greatest soccer game they had seen. Plenty of players also discovered a famous exploit where standing right in front of the AI goalkeeper during a goal kick would often cause it to accidentally kick the ball straight to you for an easy goal. This one title kicked off a franchise that has since sold over 100 million copies and built the entire FIFA series from scratch.
Let me know in the comments if you ever pulled off that goalkeeper trick yourself. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#fifainternationalsoccer #fifa #segagenesis #easports #retrogaming #classicgaming #90scommercial #retrocommercials #90sgaming #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #90snostalgia #soccergames #segacommercials #youtubeshorts #gaming
This FIFA International Soccer commercial kicked off one of the biggest franchises in gaming history almost by accident. Developed by EA Canada's Extended Play Productions team in Burnaby, with support from EA's UK office in Guildford, the game released for the Sega Mega Drive in December 1993 under the working title EA Soccer, built by a team of just ten developers led by Bruce McMillan. They chose an isometric camera angle specifically to stand apart from the market leading Sensible Soccer and Kick Off, which both used top down views.
The licensing story behind this game is honestly the best part. EA signed a five year deal directly with FIFA for what turned out to be minuscule royalty payments, and the reason became obvious once they read the fine print. The license did not actually include any real team logos, player names, likenesses or stadiums, so the game only features national teams identified by country names and flags, with every single player name completely made up, several of which were just developers sneaking their own names onto the roster. EA even considered releasing it in North America as Team USA Soccer instead, worried Americans would not recognize the FIFA name, before deciding against it and going worldwide with one title.
It clearly worked out anyway. The game sold 400,000 copies in the UK in just the final two weeks of December 1993 alone, stayed at number one on the UK charts into early 1994, and topped the Super NES sales chart in the US that following June. Mean Machines Sega gave it a glowing review calling it the greatest soccer game they had seen. Plenty of players also discovered a famous exploit where standing right in front of the AI goalkeeper during a goal kick would often cause it to accidentally kick the ball straight to you for an easy goal. This one title kicked off a franchise that has since sold over 100 million copies and built the entire FIFA series from scratch.
Let me know in the comments if you ever pulled off that goalkeeper trick yourself. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#fifainternationalsoccer #fifa #segagenesis #easports #retrogaming #classicgaming #90scommercial #retrocommercials #90sgaming #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #90snostalgia #soccergames #segacommercials #youtubeshorts #gaming
