New star might be appear in the cover of FIFA 17

Lionel Messi has been on the cover for FIFA games for several years now. However, FIFA 17 might be the first time in years we may see someone new take over. Lionel Messi signed a contract with EA Sports to be on the cover for several of their FIFA games. He appeared in FIFA Street, FIFA 13, 14, 15 and 16. He was either on the cover by himself, or shared the cover with a star. In either case, his face has been everywhere since 2012.

EA’s Ignite engine has done a lot of good things for the franchise, but the side effect appears to be some absolutely insane player physics. The idea is that instead of tackles and bumps triggering generic animations, players should bounce off each other interactively. Sometimes this works, sometimes, as in the video above, it really doesn’t. Now, don’t get us wrong, there’s something hilarious about players continually falling over each other, and we’ve definitely counted our lucky stars when one of these glitches has won us a last minute penalty.

But if FIFA wants to up its game, this really needs fixing. And speaking of last minute penalties… I just love FIFA! There is no doubt it is an amazing game, but it requires a lot of improvisation on several parts and one of that part is manager’s authenticity. Every year the game improved a lot, and for FIFA 17 fans would love to see actual managers in the game not those old bald men roaming here and there on the touchline like ghosts. Managers are the important part of the game, and they have significant role to play. So instead of those generic dudes, EA can include professional managers.

Imagine being one of the head honchos of one of the world’s biggest organizations who get to kick back as countries bestow bribe upon bribe for the honor of “winning” the right to host the World Cup. Make your decision, but don’t get too obvious or else you’ll arouse suspicion. I mean, give the World Cup to a country like Qatar that’s a thousand degrees in the summer months, people are bound to get suspicious.

As reported by French newspaper L’Quip (via GameWatcher), Lionel Messi’s contract is expiring this year. L’Quip mentions that he’s unlikely to sign another deal to continue being the face of EA Sports’ FIFA games. EA Sports could start doing what they did previously and have a new cover star each year. They do that with their other sports games. Unless another star signs a contract and we see his or her face for the next four years again…

This means we may see another star grace the cover of FIFA 17. Several stars have been on the cover of previous games, but they had to share the cover space with Messi since 2012. Now we may see all-new faces. This might be good news for people that might have been sick of seeing Messi’s face everywhere.