An appeal for the return of Creation Centre

[Turbojugend]

Discounting a brief obsession with FIFA 98: Road to the World Cup, my first real FIFA experience was with EA's stellar run of football titles on last-gen. From FIFA 08 onward, every yearly iteration represented a quantum leap in both quantity and quality. Over time, FIFA became the one sports title I could not do without, an annual pre-order on instinct.

One of my favorite (and perhaps the most underutilized) features of last-gen FIFA was the brilliant Creation Centre, which allowed players to create nearly any league, team, badge, sponsor and player imaginable, along with corresponding cups and schedules. For instance, let's say you wanted to recreate the entire 1970's-era NASL, with authentic logos and individual player ratings, you could totally do it. Best of all, users could edit their creations via a robust web app built on the Unity engine, allowing endless micro-management. Creators could tweak the subtlest of details on their PC, then download the edits to their console or share them with the millions of FIFA players around the globe. FIFA's Creation Centre was -- and still is -- a wonderland for game editors and the most powerful creation suite in sports gaming.

Yet despite the numerous visual and technological advancements on current-gen FIFA, Creation Centre has gone M.I.A. (it still exists on last-gen as of FIFA 15). One can only guess as to why this is, perhaps a hardware compatibility issue or some other technological snag. Maybe it is a conscious decision on EA's part to focus their attention on more lucrative aspects of the game (I'm looking at you, Ultimate Team). Whatever the case, the days of adding the Vanarama Conference to the English football tier or recreating the Greek league or inserting that shiny new expansion franchise into your MLS career are sadly absent in modern FIFA. And that is a shame.

Just imagine what a Creation Centre reboot might look like: A fully-realized stadium creator, individual face edits, a wider array of playing styles, kits and hairdos. EA's recommitment to delivering a superior creation suite could elevate the FIFA franchise to new heights, providing a whole new set of opportunities to those who want to design the ultimate personalized FIFA experience for themselves and others.

Anyone else holding out hope for the return of Creation Centre in the PS4/XB1 versions of FIFA 16? Or is it not a big deal to you?

[HarlemYankee]

I don't know why more people aren't liking this post. I one million percent agree. I loved the Creation Centre... The possibilities of the current gen platforms seem endless.

[This Guy]

This combined with online league/cup capability would be the single greatest (re)addition EA has ever made. As it is now I'm in a sim-style league with some guys and we're doing our own "World Cup." However, we can only play in online friendlies and record all the stats and scores through our website. If we had this we could not only do a real world cup but a champions league and Copa as well. Let's hope for the best!

[stupu43]

This is an excellent idea. especially for the amount of players not in the game.

i have high hopes this year for fifa, i hope i'm not disappointed

[jwilphl]

I'm right there with you. Made a brand new team for FIFA '14 only to find out, after my purchase, that creation centre had not transitioned to the PS4. I suppose it was my own fault for assuming it would be there, but I heard nothing to the contrary before buying.

Well my team is still sitting there and there is nothing more I'd rather do than plug them into the bottom-tier of the English leagues and work my way to premier status. As I'm not necessarily a fan of any one team in particular, this is really the only way to get enjoyment out of the career mode.

In '14 I ended up moving Celtic over to the English side as my stand-in. Certainly didn't enjoy it as much fun as I did with my custom squad.

[stupu43]

Quote: Originally Posted by jwilphl

I'm right there with you. Made a brand new team for FIFA '14 only to find out, after my purchase, that creation centre had not transitioned to the PS4. I suppose it was my own fault for assuming it would be there, but I heard nothing to the contrary before buying. Well my team is still sitting there and there is nothing more I'd rather do than plug them into the bottom-tier of the English leagues and work my way to premier status. As I'm not necessarily a fan of any one team in particular, this is really the only way to get enjoyment out of the career mode. In '14 I ended up moving Celtic over to the English side as my stand-in. Certainly didn't enjoy it as much fun as I did with my custom squad.

no wonder you didnt enjoy it...you were celtic!!

[focus59]

Quote: Originally Posted by Turbojugend

Discounting a brief obsession with FIFA 98: Road to the World Cup, my first real FIFA experience was with EA's stellar run of football titles on last-gen. From FIFA 08 onward, every yearly iteration represented a quantum leap in both quantity and quality. Over time, FIFA became the one sports title I could not do without, an annual pre-order on instinct. One of my favorite (and perhaps the most underutilized) features of last-gen FIFA was the brilliant Creation Centre, which allowed players to create nearly any league, team, badge, sponsor and player imaginable, along with corresponding cups and schedules. For instance, let's say you wanted to recreate the entire 1970's-era NASL, with authentic logos and individual player ratings, you could totally do it. Best of all, users could edit their creations via a robust web app built on the Unity engine, allowing endless micro-management. Creators could tweak the subtlest of details on their PC, then download the edits to their console or share them with the millions of FIFA players around the globe. FIFA's Creation Centre was -- and still is -- a wonderland for game editors and the most powerful creation suite in sports gaming. Yet despite the numerous visual and technological advancements on current-gen FIFA, Creation Centre has gone M.I.A. (it still exists on last-gen as of FIFA 15). One can only guess as to why this is, perhaps a hardware compatibility issue or some other technological snag. Maybe it is a conscious decision on EA's part to focus their attention on more lucrative aspects of the game (I'm looking at you, Ultimate Team). Whatever the case, the days of adding the Vanarama Conference to the English football tier or recreating the Greek league or inserting that shiny new expansion franchise into your MLS career are sadly absent in modern FIFA. And that is a shame. Just imagine what a Creation Centre reboot might look like: A fully-realized stadium creator, individual face edits, a wider array of playing styles, kits and hairdos. EA's recommitment to delivering a superior creation suite could elevate the FIFA franchise to new heights, providing a whole new set of opportunities to those who want to design the ultimate personalized FIFA experience for themselves and others. Anyone else holding out hope for the return of Creation Centre in the PS4/XB1 versions of FIFA 16? Or is it not a big deal to you?

Hi,personally I agree with you,I am not on Xbox 1 but old gen Xbox 360,I understand there will be no creation centre for any platform in Fifa 16 which in my view is a tragedy,I cannot understand ea,they realise that creation centre is one of the most popular modes it has ever introduced now it's gone,in my opinion what is the point in having an Xbox live membership? It's now really only there for fut players and fur is not something I personally am into,so yes I want to throw my weight behind your cause and campaign to get creation centre back in the game,could they do this through a patch if there is enough support?

[flo182]

If FIFA wants to make the next big step (concerning singleplayer) they need to do three things.

- Give us more depth in manager mode. They just have to look at NBA 2k and copy everything and we'd have a perfect singleplayer experience in FIFA.

- Let us edit the game! The edit functions of FIFA are a joke.
2K has a featured called 2k-Share where everyone can edit Players, Teams etc. and then share them in the game with other users.

This feature is sooo great because it gives you so many opportunities to shape the game the way you want it.
And it's not even a lot of work for EA. They just have to give us a proper Editor and the community will do the rest.


But somehow EA doesnt strike me as a company that really wants their customers to be happy...
Taking features out of the game to reintroduce them is nothing new.
(Look at those two great "new" features in career mode this year, both have already been in the game...)