FIFA Online sets Korean gaming record
Amid World Cup frenzy, 600,000 Korean soccer fans clamor to the online, open-beta game in one day; 100,000 hit the pitch concurrently.
By Patrick Caldwell, GameSpot
Posted Jun 28, 2006 1:40 pm PT
While nations battle it out in real-life World Cup matches thousands of miles away in
At one point, FIFA Online, a PC soccer title only available in
Currently in the open-beta stage of development, FIFA Online also pulled in 33,000 online soccer players at one time over the first weekend it was available. The game's release date of May 25, shortly before the 2006 FIFA World Cup began, was no coincidence, EA said.
"We worked hard to get the game up and running in a time frame that allowed people [to] weave the online game into their overall summer soccer experience," EA spokeswoman Tammy Schachter told GameSpot. "Although the game is not tied to the World Cup, it made sense to launch it in a time frame when the world is celebrating soccer."
EA has a lock on the rights to the FIFA license until 2014, and the company points to its online FIFA test in
"Partnering with a local expert (Neowiz) to deliver an online downloadable game is a new and unique publishing model for EA," Schachter said. "We are thrilled to see that online gamers are embracing a sports title so enthusiastically."
