Moore: PES is in FIFA's "rear view mirror"

By Johnny Minkley Published 30 April, 2009

But boss demands improvement for FIFA 10.

EA Sports president Peter Moore has claimed there's now "distance" between the quality of FIFA and fierce rival Pro Evolution Soccer, with Konami's kickaround now in EA's "rear view mirror".

But Moore, while admitting his team had done "so well" with FIFA 09, revealed he is demanding a Metacritic rating of 90 for this year's version, up from the 87 recorded by the 360 and PS3 versions of 09.

"I want 90!" he told Eurogamer last week, at the Emirates Stadium in north London for the unveiling of FIFA 10 "It's a challenge, and as I said in the presentation, it's not easy with sports games to continue to raise the bar every single year - and it's half tongue-in-cheek as I know how difficult it is."

Moore announced his desire for a 90 average during a briefing with UK journalists, as FIFA producer Dave Rutter watched from the sidelines.

"FIFA 09 has been spectacular and we've got a high bar for FIFA 10," Moore said afterwards. "So yeah, Rutter's got some work to do, but yeah, I'd like a 90 this year."

Speaking of the series' long-standing competition with Pro Evolution Soccer, Moore added: "I don't underestimate Konami. I've spent a lot of time, as you know, in Japan over the years and they're a great company. The day we start resting on our laurels is the day we start slipping back.

"We've got a little bit of distance in the rear view mirror between ourselves and our competitor right now, but we can't get complacent and we can't stop trying to innovate and making sure we keep that distance between us and them."

We've seen and played FIFA 10, but we're not allowed to tell you anything about it just yet thanks to a pesky embargo. But we will soon, promise. In the meantime, there's much more from Moore on Eurogamer today.

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About Johnny Minkley

Eurogamer TV's Johnny Minkley is a veteran journalist with a lifelong passion for games and the games industry. He uses Twitter more than most people use air.

Read more articles from Johnny by visiting the Johnny Minkley archive page.

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Comments (27) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Valis #1 3 years ago

    He's right, Konami have become the most complacent games company in the world with PES. Its shit now.

  • DutchDemons #2 3 years ago

    again with the whole 'metacritic= the truth'...how has this slipped into peoples minds?

    Fifa 09 does rule tho. won't be buying fifa 10 however, what with 09 being that awesome and all :-)

  • MisterCraig #3 3 years ago

    All this talk about PS3 beating the 360 in 5 years, and EA being better than Konami: it's like children in a school playground spreading silly rumours.

    It's not news.
    Edited by 1 at 30/04/09 @ 11:26

  • JayeM #4 3 years ago


    This article is true. That is all I have to say on this matter.

  • skillian #5 3 years ago

    again with the whole 'metacritic= the truth'...how has this slipped into peoples minds?

    Devs/publishers want high review scores - that's not really surprising...

  • dsmx #6 3 years ago

    very much depends on the system though PES on the Wii and the PSP is better than the fifa version.

  • Deckard1 #7 3 years ago

    Fifa 09 is better then any of the PES games were. Its a shame because I used to be a big PES fanboy, but fifa has really outclassed it now.

  • zisssou #8 3 years ago

    The question is...how can they improve on fifa 09? for me its the perfect football game. They did this before they totally made the perfect football game around 98/99...and then it slumped to being rubbish.

  • dsmx #9 3 years ago

    Without PES EA never would of got it's thumb out of it's arse and made fifa 09. It's a shame though that PES hasn't moved forward, but when EA bought critereon games they cut off access to renderware which is what konami used to make PES so they've had to start from scratch on a new engine on the new consoles and that is probably what's been sucking away the budget for the last few years.

  • JJrabbit #10 3 years ago

    I used to be a PES fanboy and absolutely loved that game. However, when Fifa 09 came out, I was blown away at how far FIFA has come. I'd love to see what improvements come in FIFA '10 but atm am happy playing 09 all day.

  • DrJarak #11 3 years ago

    @Deckard1

    Totally agree, almost felt like a traitor as PES ruled for so long, but FIFA 09 made me defect, miles better than recent PES offerings.

  • andijames #12 3 years ago

    Yep PES convert here too. Always loved the whole PES series on the PS2 (and the first incarnation on 360) but they have gone backwards in recent years. The engine used to be terrific but compared to FIFA's it feels very scripted and almost cheating sometimes.

    FIFA 09 is a fantastic game and i hope they progress with FIFA 10. An edit mode would be nice but not too sure if they will put this in due to licensing? Maybe. Maybe not.

    Roll on September though!

  • syphaa #13 3 years ago

    Really looking forward to Fifa 10, (ironic name, probably at least 10 iterations!).
    Fifa 09 is still going strong for me and a mate of mine as we are both into our 3rd season on management mode, its awesome.

    Fingers crossed its as good as 09 with lots of nice added features. Can't see how the animations/gameplay can be any smoother though.

  • X201 #14 3 years ago

    dsmx has hit the nail on the head

  • Spydy #15 3 years ago

    Cream (Seabass) always rises to the top.

    PES will rise from the flames.

  • rutter #16 3 years ago

    Go Rutter - hit the 90 :)

  • Rodchenko #17 3 years ago

    The engine used to be terrific but compared to FIFA's it feels very scripted and almost cheating sometimes.

    Not that there isn't plenty of scripting (and AI cheating) in FIFA 09's SP as well, especially when you play some of the tournament modes, but I agree that it doesn't feel as blatant as the ones in the latest PES installments.

    I am hoping though they will fix the keepers (which are incredibly dumb with loose balls but all-out super-heroes on the line), the referees (who love to fuck with the advantage rule), make the pitch a bit bigger, slow the pace down even more and have the computer controlled teams play more tactical and less about 'constant attack'. Conceding goals from the AI which are NOT based on some dodgy deflection, your defender mis-timing a tackle/clearance or your goalie parrying off the shot right onto the foot of their attacker would also be nice. I could also do with a few less hits to aluminum and a revamped shot engine that doesn't have every slight touch of the shoot button result in the ball ballooning over the cross bar.

    Konami OTOH should finally scrap the PS2 from their target platforms and think about writing a brand new engine tailored to 'next-gen'. Before that won't happen, the game is always going to be riddled by the same old problems.

  • Aretak #18 3 years ago

    "and have the computer controlled teams play more tactical and less about 'constant attack'."

    The CPU does timewaste when it's ahead towards the end to be fair. It's incredibly frustrating when you're trying to get back in the game and it heads for the corner flag or starts passing the ball around at the back.
    Edited by 2 at 30/04/09 @ 16:14

  • mcmonkeyplc #19 3 years ago

    This Moore guy, he speaks the truth.

  • Burkey123 #20 3 years ago

    PES 5 > Fifa 09

    I enjoyed PES 08 but PES 09 was very disappointing. Fifa 09 is good but doesn't touch PES 5.
    Konami have to do something radical though.
    Edited by 2 at 30/04/09 @ 17:01

  • Rodchenko #21 3 years ago

    The CPU does timewaste when it's ahead towards the end to be fair. It's incredibly frustrating when you're trying to get back in the game and it heads for the corner flag or starts passing the ball around at the back.

    Yes, you are right. Frustrating as hell, especially as your players stubbornly hesitate to move up the pitch even though you have the slider set all the way to offence. Still, I am always amused by the way even low ranked AI teams playing the away side kick into immediate counter-attack when they get hold of the ball and tend to reach your goal mouth with one long, pixel-perfect pass down the middle. There seems to be no lateral play whatsover when it comes to the CPU. And there seems to be no meta/contextual scripting in place either, like for example Chelsea going for a goal-less draw at Nou Camp in a CL semi first leg. Instead they charge at you like there was no tomorrow and because the stats are designed that way.

  • El-Dev #22 3 years ago

    Fifa 09 really is a much better game than PES 2009, saying it isn't is lying. The first time I played Fifa I hated it. But the more and more I played it the more I realised how realistic it is.

    Lookin forward to both Fifa 10 and Pes 2010 as I'm only going to buy them based on the demo and not loyalty, which made me buy PES2008 on the PS3.

  • Chupakun #23 3 years ago

    FIFA 09 is pretty amazing...how can you improve it, if not incrementally? I can't think of any drastic ideas right now. Although, I am pretty damn groggy...

  • Zomoniac #24 3 years ago

    Really looking forward to Fifa 10, (ironic name, probably at least 10 iterations!)

    I count 31 not including FIFA Manager games, 28 if you discount the Street games.

  • Naboomagnoli #25 3 years ago

    PES4 isn't in PES 5 or 6's league either. It's barely in PES1's league.

    PES 2008+ aren't even football games.

    Fifa 09 has a LOT of room for improvement, even if it is a very good football game. Assisted controls need to be binned for a start, or at the very least made no more assisted than PES's controls; at the moment if you had any more assistance you wouldn't need to press pass, let alone aim. Manual through balls are broken as well.
    Edited by 1 at 30/04/09 @ 22:21

  • ozallez #26 3 years ago

    there's a thread on the ea fifa feedback forum from a fifa10 producer. They confirmed a big slice of this year's development went into manager mode, which is most welcome. :-) Pre-season friendlies and some training modes, better transfer window etc would keep me happy.

  • freedumb #27 3 years ago

    While it's very good Fifa 09 is not perfect, and not really realistic either.

    PES 09 looks flat and rigid because of outdated robotic animations, but it actually plays a better game of football than Fifa (at least with manual controls), it has better more weighted ball physics instead of the balloon ball in Fifa that rises too high, a lower pace, better AI and positioning, less reliance on speed and through balls and more variety in goalscoring, better fatigue where you actually have to make subs etc.

    If PES had an equivalent of Fifa's animation engine it would be seen more clearly.