FIFA and Fantasy and Fandom

In the olden days — let’s call it, say, 1992 — the way you got into a sport was going to a game or maybe through watching SportsCenter. You rooted for your local team or the one that your parents rooted for where they grew up. Life was simple. And then fantasy sports and FIFA video games became a thing, and everything changed.

When FIFA International Soccer came out for the Sega Genesis in December of 1993, it was a major step forward for soccer video games, which tended to be top-down or side-view affairs. FIFA brought an isometric perspective, improved player animations, a reactive crowd and slower, more simulation-focused gameplay to what was heretofore a genre dominated by an arcade…