Issue 05

Tell us about your journey into esports?
I took a slightly different, less traditional route than most. Having
graduated in Industrial Engineering from the Rochester Institute of
Technology, I pursued a career in that field, however, it soon became
boring. It was always my dream to work in the video game industry
particularly within marketing, so I did a little more studying at UCLA
and then moved to Seattle to work for a marketing agency.
After my US student visa expired, I decided as I had a dual Canadian / Nigerian
citizenship, that I would look for a job in Canada although I had never fully lived
there before. Low and behold I saw a FIFA community manager job post based
in Vancouver. I applied for the position and a week and a half later I got the job.
Working there for four years was a dream come true. It was a great
role and I learnt a lot and made numerous contacts in the industry.
However, I had always wanted to work for myself and be my own entity. I
moved into streaming FIFA and after doing this for a year I was approached
by EA to be part of the broadcast team for the FIFA 17 Championship
Series. It was an amazing experience and one that I would never forget.
Soon after, I worked on FIWC 17 and then various events throughout the
FIFA 18 circuit including the FeWC 18 at the London O2 Arena.
most time to be a better player stand out above the rest in my opinion.
There is quite a steep learning curve this year
What Icons should FUT players be looking out for this
year and who is your personal favourite?
There are so many great icons this year. The one everyone is
talking about is Johann Cryuff. He is fantastic and surprisingly a
lot of people prefer him to prime R9. He’s got everything you could
ask for: 5 star skills, 5 star weak foot, good shooting, decent
height, and he is very fast. You don’t think he would be that fast
but he just glides across the pitch. His Agility is very high too and
I think agility is going to be very important in FIFA 19. I am always
a big fan of CM’s and CDM’s though.
My personal favourite Icon is prime Ballack. He is a CDM that
stays in position. In FIFA 13, MOTM Jon Obi Mikel used to be my
favourite CDM. He never passed the halfway line. He just stuck
to his position and sat as deep as possible. Ballack is just like
that wherever you decide to put him. I never liked him in real life since
I support Manchester United and he played for Chelsea but he’s probably
going to be the first Icon I put into my team.
As a major figure in the FIFA industry, what do you
prefer now commentating, streaming or playing?
I actually prefer commentating and hosting now. Esports was not
a big part of FIFA while I was the FIFA community manager at EA
from FIFA 12 to FIFA 16. But after I left EA, esports really began to
pick up with the introduction of FUT Champions in FIFA 17.
When you work on the games you kinda feel like you have seen everything
it has to offer, but esports was just something new, something refreshing,
so it was like a natural surprise that got me excited about FIFA again.
Being at the events and seeing all the pros again are the highlights of my year!
Having played FIFA 19 at the Capture Event in Berlin
what are your first impressions of it?
Another Icon is Cannavaro… great standing tackle. He probably
has the best tackling capabilities in the game, even above Maldini.
It’s a massive surprise how good he is.
What did you think to this years FIFA eWorld Cup?
The eWorld Cup is that one tournament that everyone looks forward to
at the end of the competitive year. I thought it was simply amazing! The
venue, the O2 Arena in London, was great. To be able to use a venue like
that for an esports tournament shows how big it is becoming.
I thought that the level of talent at the eWorld Cup was probably the
highest it has ever been at a tournament. The rigorous qualification
process made sure that we had the best of the best of the best. It
was so tight leading up to that final. MSDossary did pull it off and was
very dominant on the last day but I thought overall it was very tight.
I think that the first thing that stood out is that skills are making a comeback
with the Active Touch System. It was not such a factor last year. The
animations are so smooth, that is one thing which sets it apart from
FIFA 18. They really stand out and I am also looking forward to the
Champions League content.
The esports players have all developed and come so far in terms of
being interviewed, doing the right things, saying the right things on
camera. I was very proud of how they were all dealing with the media
attention. Hopefully they are all enjoying the attention as they will
play a big part in growing the industry as we move forward.
Attacking-wise there are so many different factors to consider
now including timed finishing.
In terms of the competitive scene, who are you
expecting to have a good year?
Currently the shooting needs some work though; sometimes a
poorly timed finish shot is better than a well-timed finish. Also
at times FIFA 18 style powershot without the double-tap ends up
being weak shot. The developers have told us that this a high-priority
issue that will be fixed soon however. Those who dedicate the
I am actually looking at the two from Werder Bremen, Michael
Bittner (MegaBit) and Mohammed Harkous (MoAubameyang).
I think we are going to see a larger gap between the pros who
have really invested the time to learn all the intricacies of the
game as there are so many of them.
www.esportsworldfootball.com
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