FIFA 15 arrived on 23 September 2014 in North America, with Europe and Australia following on 25 September and the United Kingdom and Ireland on 26 September. EA Canada developed it, EA Sports published it, and it landed on a spread of platforms that now looks like the end of an era: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
This is the version that matters for PS4 and Xbox One, and it is the one that finally gave the series a proper footing on the new hardware. It is also, quietly, a farewell. FIFA 15 is the last game in the series to appear on the Nintendo 3DS, the Wii and the PlayStation Vita, and the last EA published for all three systems.
Trailer, via GamePlayStation.
Ignite, and what it changed on PC
The headline technical shift is the Ignite engine. FIFA 15 runs on it, and for the first time the PC version does too, carrying the same features as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions rather than a stripped-down build. On PS4 and Xbox One, Ignite is the reason the game looks and moves like a step forward rather than a roster update.
That distinction matters more than it sounds. For years the PC crowd got a lesser product. FIFA 15 closes that gap, even if the PC release became the version most talked about for the wrong reasons.
Messi on the cover, and a Premier League first
Lionel Messi fronts the cover, joined by different players in different regions. That is standard FIFA practice, and it works — the regional covers give each market a face it recognizes.
The bigger licensing story is that FIFA 15 is the first game in the series to be fully licensed by the Premier League. For a football simulation, that is not a cosmetic detail. Full licensing shapes the kits, the clubs and the presentation, and it is the kind of thing that decides which game a fan of English football buys.
Tyler and Smith return to the booth
For the third consecutive edition, Martin Tyler and Alan Smith handle the main commentary. Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend call the international matches.
That continuity is worth noting. Commentary teams are the voice of a football game, and by the third run Tyler and Smith had settled into the rhythm the series needed. It is not a selling point you put on the box, but it is the layer that keeps a match feeling like a match across a full season.
The bugs that followed the PC build
FIFA 15 drew positive reviews across every platform it shipped on. The PC version is the exception in one specific respect: it was criticized for the number of bugs present at release.
That is a familiar pattern for annual sports games, and it is the sort of thing that gets fixed in patches rather than remembered. Still, it is the one clear blemish on an otherwise well-received release, and it landed on the platform that had just been given parity with the older consoles.
FIFA 15 received positive reviews across all platforms, although the PC version in particular was criticized for the amount of bugs that were featured at release.
What FIFA 15 gets right, and what it leaves behind
The case for FIFA 15 is straightforward. It is the first entry built for the Xbox One and PS4 generation, it brings the Ignite engine to PC at last, it locks down full Premier League licensing, and it keeps the commentary pairing that had already proven itself over two prior editions. Those are four concrete gains, not marketing language.
The case against it is narrower but real. A game that ships with a notable bug load on one platform, in the same year it finally reaches parity on that platform, undercuts its own best argument. EA Canada built the version PC players had been waiting for and then handed it over in rough shape. That is a fixable mistake, and it was fixed, but it is the kind of first impression a release only gets once.
There is also the matter of what FIFA 15 represents in hindsight. It is the last stop for the Nintendo 3DS, the Wii and the PlayStation Vita, and the last EA title published for those systems. That is a plain fact about the release schedule, and it is worth stating without reading a larger industry story into it. Anyone still playing on a Vita or a 3DS had reached the end of the road.
For PS4 and Xbox One owners, none of that matters much. What matters is that FIFA 15 is a confident, well-licensed, technically current football simulation with the presentation and commentary to carry a full season. The regional Messi covers and the Premier League deal are the parts you notice on day one. The Ignite engine is the part you notice over months.
The bugs are the detail worth holding onto. The source reports that the PC version was criticized for the number of bugs present at release, and it does not say why. That is the honest limit of what can be claimed here. A rough launch on the platform that had just been given feature parity is the one clear mark against the game.
FIFA 15 earns its standing. It is the series finally settled on new hardware, with the licensing and the broadcast layer to match. The rough PC launch keeps it from being a clean win, and the abandoned platforms keep it from being a simple one. What is left is a strong annual entry with one clear flaw and one clear turning point.
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