Sky Sports has announced that they will be teaming up with EA Sports FIFA, to try and make watching soccer matches a little less “sad” from home.
Sky Sports has announced that they will be teaming up with EA Sports FIFA in an attempt to make watching Premier League matches a little less “sad” from home. With quarantine still in effect, the two companies hope to replicate a key component that would otherwise be missing from the live event.
Back in mid-March, England’s football leagues were put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. Recently however, it was announced that the Premier League clubs would be returning, beginning as soon as June 17th. The reason for this delay was to ensure that the correct precautions would be made, and that the safety of the players, coaches, and officials could be ensured. Even so, despite the sport resuming, safety is still the league’s number one priority. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that fans will still not be allowed to gather in crowds and fill the bleachers. Realizing a lack of enthusiasm in the arena could be a bit jarring for fans, Sky Sports has taken it upon themselves to try and remedy this issue.
According to a blog post (via VG247), Sky Sports announced that it will be launching a series of new innovations and features to give fans an even more immersive experience to share live with family and friends on virtual platforms. Some of these features include the ability to watch matches with friends in a video call, similar to that of watching with friends on Netflix, a recap feature, catching late viewers up on highlights they may have missed from the match, and a “Sky Sports crowd”, to replicate the atmosphere of a typical Premier League match.
To elaborate on the latter, Sky Sports stated that it will be teaming up with EA Sports’ FIFA, known for the widely popular soccer/football game franchise, to create crowd specific sounds and chants, so that fans don’t miss out on the noises that go with the action. If fans would rather not hear this simulation, they can simply choose a Sky Channel that doesn’t have the feature enabled. Regardless what fans choose however, it is clear that Sky Sports is trying its best to provide their subscribers with a way to feel a little better about not being able to support their team in person.
With the pandemic still active, and quarantine still being enforced, people are coming up with unique and creative ways to adapt to the current times. Sky Sports realizes that the silence of an empty stadium would more than likely detract from their subscribers viewing experience, reminding them of why they can’t be their in person. So, although a simulated crowd may not have been the solution sport’s fans were hoping for, it’s at the very least one that keeps them in mind.
Source: Sky Sports (via VG247)
