So it turns out EA had no excuse with FIFA wrt invites (Switch Online)

[Rich]

...because Doom allows it on a system base level:

Press X and anyone in your Switch friend list who owns the game is able to be invited.

I know this isn't anything revolutionary, obviously, but it again shows that it's really just a matter of giving a shit when it comes to devs on the switch rather than anything else.



Note: Not my photo - taken from Reddit.

 

[Deleted member 2945]

It was the case with Wii U too.

It is for Nintendo to make sure they had a system implemented to make this easier.

 

[Zedark]

We knew this already - even indies could code it into their games - but this is just another example that EA just went cheap.

 

[Oregano]

Nintendo's setup is subpar and id and Panic Button have gone out of their way there.

Saying that EA still has no real excuse and their response was laughably pathetic.

 

[Deleted member 5491]

So to make things clear:
Eurogamer said that the Switch doesn't have these features, as seen here
while EA never said why, only following:

FIFA 18 on Switch offers Local Seasons allowing friends to play against each other across two consoles in close proximity to one another, and we encourage those looking to compete online to take advantage of online modes on Switch including FIFA Ultimate Team, Online Seasons, and Online Tournaments.

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[Kenzodielocke]

Splatoon 2.

 

[Deleted member 62]

Isn't this done on a system level on other platforms to avoid situations like this?

 

[spam musubi]

They came out months apart. Do we have evidence that this wasn't added in subsequent OS patches?

And yeah, on other systems the OS facilitates this for you so you don't have to program this into your game, so if you'd like to blame someone I don't think EA is the first person to look to.

 

[cw_sasuke]

We had Indie games like FAST have this type of support - we know that EA was just too lazy to implement it.

 

[SuperFakerBros]

They came out months apart. Do we have evidence that this wasn't added in subsequent OS patches?

And yeah, on other systems the OS facilitates this for you so you don't have to make uakmy program this into your game, so if you'd like to blame someone I don't think EA is the first person to look to.

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It wasn't and this isn't a system level feature

Sure but when you have indie developers allowing you to play with and invite your friends, it's kind of hard to give EA a pass on this

 

[Oregano]

They came out months apart. Do we have evidence that this wasn't added in subsequent OS patches?

And yeah, on other systems the OS facilitates this for you so you don't have to make uakmy program this into your game, so if you'd like to blame someone I don't think EA is the first person to look to.

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Doom's invite feature is unique to the game but literally every other online games has supported playing with friends except Fifa. FAST Racing Neo didn't at launch but was updated, and that's a game from a tiny indie developer.

 

[Chief Malik]

Lol @ lazy being thrown around again

 

[KratosEnergyDrink]

They came out months apart. Do we have evidence that this wasn't added in subsequent OS patches?

And yeah, on other systems the OS facilitates this for you so you don't have to make uakmy program this into your game, so if you'd like to blame someone I don't think EA is the first person to look to.

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Because EA is lazy? Even some Indie devs manage to include this feature.

 

[spam musubi]

It wasn't and this isn't a system level feature

Sure but when you have indie developers allowing you to play with and invite your friends, it's kind of hard to give EA a pass on this

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Doom's invite feature is unique to the game but literally every other online games has supported playing with friends except Fifa. FAST Racing Neo didn't at launch but was updated, and that's a game from a tiny indie developer.

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Ok, so the point is that since Nintendo didn't implement an industry standard feature on their system every developer is forced to hack their own way at a comparable solution. You're right that EA could have done that like everyone else, but if Nintendo were doing their job as a platform holder then this would be a non issue to begin with. As it stands, any developer who wants to do this has to spend resources reinventing the wheel. From your perspective EA is the odd one out for not spending the extra resources, but from EA's perspective Nintendo are the odd one out of platform holders for not providing standard features. Sure, hold EA accountable for not putting in the extra work on their port. But also hold Nintendo accountable for not solving the problem at the root to begin with.

 

[Galava]

EA doesn't seem fully invested in the Switch, despite saying "but, we released fifa18!". Hope they start taking Switch more seriously, but tbh, I don't really care about EA anymore.

 

[Jack Frost]

Because EA is lazy? Even some Indie devs manage to include this feature.

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EA is anti-Nintendo so they must be right.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Lol @ lazy being thrown around again

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Yeah....lets instead cape for every big publishers on Switch because Nintendo has to be at fault ;-)

We are talking a feature that is expected from a game like Fifa, that other Switch titles also offer that EA didnt include...nor did they address it or talk about adding it with a future update. Too many people are fine with lackluster publisher offerings as long as it only involved the Switch release.

 

[Garf02]

It is for Nintendo to make sure they had a system implemented to make this easier.

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who is codding the game and trying to appeal to an user base with it, Nintendo or EA?

 

[Deleted member 2625]

guys you are not seriously doing a Lazy Devs thread are you???

read the Era FAQ please

 

[Zedark]

Ok, so the point is that since Nintendo didn't implement an industry standard feature on their system every developer is forced to hack their own way at a comparable solution. You're right that EA could have done that like everyone else, but if Nintendo were doing their job as a platform holder then this would be a non issue to begin with. As it stands, any developer who wants to do this has to spend resources reinventing the wheel. From your perspective EA is the odd one out for not spending the extra resources, but from EA's perspective Nintendo are the odd one out of platform holders for not providing standard features. Sure, hold EA accountable for not putting in the extra work on their port. But also hold Nintendo accountable for not solving the problem at the root to begin with.

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Pretty sure that's the common opinion, though. Posts blasting EA for the missing friends features are rivaled by the posts blasting Nintendo for its online system.

It's perfectly fair to call out EA when other, much smaller developers can include it day one or soon after. Nor does that mean we absolve Nintendo of its part of this.

 

[Oregano]

Ok, so the point is that since Nintendo didn't implement an industry standard feature on their system every developer is forced to hack their own way at a comparable solution. You're right that EA could have done that like everyone else, but if Nintendo were doing their job as a platform holder then this would be a non issue to begin with. As it stands, any developer who wants to do this has to spend resources reinventing the wheel. From your perspective EA is the odd one out for not spending the extra resources, but from EA's perspective Nintendo are the odd one out of platform holders for not providing standard features. Sure, hold EA accountable for not putting in the extra work on their port. But also hold Nintendo accountable for not solving the problem at the root to begin with.

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If an indie dev who is less than 10 people strong can do it then so can EA.

Also not a networking specialist or a game developer but I can't imagine that developers don't have to put in the hooks for the invites and joining friends to work. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

I also doubt Nintendo would allow any developers to "hack" a system to interface with the OS because that would be security risk. The ability to see friends(and their icons) in games will be part of an API provided by Nintendo. The only thing unique to Doom is the invite management system.

 

[spam musubi]

Yeah....lets instead cape for every big publishers on Switch because Nintendo has to be at fault ;-)

We are talking a feature that is expected from a game like Fifa, that other Switch titles also offer that EA didnt include...nor did they address it or talk about adding it with a future update. Too many people are fine with lackluster publisher offerings as long as it only involved the Switch release.

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Again, conversely, system wide multiplayer tools is a feature that is expected from a console, that other consoles offer that Nintendo didn't include... Nor did they address it or talk about adding it with a feature update. Too many people are give with lackluster multiplayer feature offerings as long as it only involves the switch.

If an indie dev who is less than 10 people strong can do it then so can EA.

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I don't disagree. But also as a platform holder to incentivize third party support you should try to reduce overhead of porting titles as much as possible, right? Offering feature parity helps with that.

 

[DrWong]

guys you are not seriously doing a Lazy Devs thread are you???

read the Era FAQ please

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EA isn't lazy with their FIFA 18 on Switch, EA is cheap.

 

[cw_sasuke]

guys you are not seriously doing a Lazy Devs thread are you???

read the Era FAQ please

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Oh yeah....the term "lazy" is the issue here.

/s

Its obv. what is meant - EA didnt care enough to have their devs or the team implement the feature. Not that every dev working on the game is a horrible human being and bad at their job. They are doing what the higher ups is green-lighting...and in this case EA didnt bother with a basic feature. No excuses...well actually looking at this thread there will probably be a bunch of excuses to justify EAs decision.

 

[Raijinto]

Again, conversely, system wide multiplayer tools is a feature that is expected from a console, that other consoles offer that Nintendo didn't include... Nor did they address it or talk about adding it with a feature update. Too many people are give with lackluster multiplayer feature offerings as long as it only involves the switch.



I don't disagree. But also as a platform holder to incentivize third party support you should try to reduce overhead of porting titles as much as possible, right? Offering feature parity helps with that.

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EA could have had this feature in their game easily by now is the point of the thread.

Do you deny that?

 

[Oregano]

Again, conversely, system wide multiplayer tools is a feature that is expected from a console, that other consoles offer that Nintendo didn't include... Nor did they address it or talk about adding it with a feature update. Too many people are give with lackluster multiplayer feature offerings as long as it only involves the switch.



I don't disagree. But also as a platform holder to incentivize third party support you should try to reduce overhead of porting titles as much as possible, right? Offering feature parity helps with that.

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Sure but I guess the issue is that no other third party seems to have the issue. If it was just Nintendo games that had the features then it would be a more valid point.

No one is criticising third parties for not supporting the online App(but that's partially because it's garbage anyway).

 

[Dunban]

Yeah....lets instead cape for every big publishers on Switch because Nintendo has to be at fault ;-)

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The thought that it should be system-level is a pretty reasonable one. A problem solved once and in perpetuity vs. the exact same problem needing to be solved over and over and over and over and over and over. Sure, EA could have done better, but that doesn't negate the fact that the effort they didn't proffer should never have been required to begin with.

 

[LordOcidax]

Wow, did know that EA have a defense force here... The evidences are pretty clear, is not impossible to play (or invite) with friends in the Switch.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Again, conversely, system wide multiplayer tools is a feature that is expected from a console, that other consoles offer that Nintendo didn't include... Nor did they address it or talk about adding it with a feature update. Too many people are give with lackluster multiplayer feature offerings as long as it only involves the switch.

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If you decide to publish or develop a game for a system you have to work with what is available...there are alot of things that PS4 or XBO offer that arent on Switch, but thats nothing new. You make the best of what you have...just like other developers did. EA wants the same 60 bucks as the other publishers but isnt willing to implement such basic feature.

I dont believe that implementing such a feature can be a big deal if such a small studio like Shinen could patch it in months ago. If EA wanted it, they could have provided it - but they decided against.

The thought that it should be system-level is a pretty reasonable one. A problem solved once and in perpetuity vs. the exact same problem needing to be solved over and over and over and over and over and over. Sure, EA could have done better, but that doesn't negate the fact that the effort they didn't proffer should never have been required to begin with.

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We have known for a while now that Nintendos full online service will be paid and wont be out until next year.

Lets not act like EA has 10 games for the Switch in development and they would have to invest thousands of man hours to implement this feature. They had a single Switch release announced - months to prepare from it and learn from what other devs went through...but they decided against it.

I just dont understand how people are defending EA when most other Switch games offer this functionality. From indie games to niche games like PuyoPuyo...but EA and their only big/major Switch release should be excused ?

 

[spam musubi]

EA could have had this feature in their game easily by now is the point of the thread.

Do you deny that?

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Literally right in the post you quoted I say I don't disagree with that.

 

[Oregano]

The thought that it should be system-level is a pretty reasonable one. A problem solved once and in perpetuity vs. the exact same problem needing to be solved over and over and over and over and over and over. Sure, EA could have done better, but that doesn't negate the fact that the effort they didn't proffer should never have been required to begin with.

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Again someone can correct me if I'm wrong but it's disingenous to say that it's not "system level" on the Switch. An example of it not being system level would be the Wii/DS.

On PS4/XBO/PC you still need to add those hooks into the game as you would on Switch.

 

[Raijinto]

Literally right in the post you quoted I say I don't disagree with that.

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So then what's your issue? If you want to lambaste the app or Nintendo's lack of features compared to other consoles this doesn't seem to be the thread for that.

 

[MatrixMan.exe]

So the question is now, what's Nintendo's excuse?

 

[Oregano]

So the question is now, what's Nintendo's excuse?

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You can play with friends in all of Nintendo's games?

 

[cw_sasuke]

So the question is now, what's Nintendo's excuse?

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.......excuse for what ?

All Nintendo games and most 3rd Party/Indie releases offer this function. EA decides against it....and your take is that Nintendo is fault ? Okay.

 

[Deleted member 2625]

Wow, did know that EA have a defense force here... The evidences are pretty clear, is not impossible to play (or invite) with friends in the Switch.

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come on. ea can be criticized. but you really don't know what was going on with dev kits, firmware, all of that. often they need to freeze on a version , lock it in dev, for schedule and bug fixing reasons. judge all you want but don't pretend you actually know.

and if you ARE going to go down that road, Nintendo themselves will reap the whirlwind for a billion reasons involving crap online systems

 

[Lizardus]

They must have been spread thin on resources. After all, it's hard to support a system in less than a year.

 

[spam musubi]

So then what's your issue? If you want to lambaste the app or Nintendo's lack of features compared to other consoles this doesn't seem to be the thread for that.

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I don't appreciate the inquisition, but if you calmed down for a second and read my posts, it's pretty clear that I've said, several times, that yes; EA didn't bother to implement this but if Nintendo bothered to solve the problem at the root this would be a non issue to begin with as EA wouldn't have needed to do anything. Which is directly related to the subject matter of the thread.

 

[LordOcidax]

So the question is now, what's Nintendo's excuse?

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Facepalm.gif

 

[Garf02]

Again, conversely, system wide multiplayer tools is a feature that is expected from a console

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I work as a chef, conversely, I would expect the company to delivery me pre-blanched Brussels Sprouts, but when they do not I have to option, Either not serve em that day, or Blanch em myself, yes, its an extra step, but its easy to do.

Same applied to EA, if Nintendo dont provide that feature on system lvl, EA have 2 option, do it emselves or just say "fuck it, dont wanna", and give indies do it emselves, so its likely a no complicated matter

 

[Deleted member 5491]

Can someone please show me the source where it is made clear that these online features missing in FIFA are not part of some API on the Switch?
All I hear is "EA is cheap" or "Nintendo is incapable" and there is no real proof for neither one

 

[Garf02]

So the question is now, what's Nintendo's excuse?

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Locking out resources for a feature that might/might not be used so instead leave those resources open and let every individual instances pick how to manage/ approach it emselves??

 

[Oregano]

The crux of the matter is that Fifa Switch's online isn't bad by the standards of the other systems, it's bad by the standards of the Switch.

 

[MatrixMan.exe]

Facepalm.gif

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What's facepalm about my post? It's a genuine question. Playing with friends on Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon 2 especially is a subpar experience compared to what other systems on the market offer. EA dropped the ball here (lol), so if other developers have had to go out of their way to make things as user friendly as possible, why hasn't Nintendo?

Locking out resources for a feature that might/might not be used so instead leave those resources open and let every individual instances pick how to manage/ approach it emselves??

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I guess that's one way to spin it, but when a system like the Vita has a more feature complete/universal system of partying up and playing with friends than the Switch then it raises eyebrows. I don't think it should be up to developers to pick up the pieces of Nintendo's shortcomings, at least in this area. If they don't have to with Steam, XBL or PSN, why should they have to here?

 

[LordOcidax]

come on. ea can be criticized. but you really don't know what was going on with dev kits, firmware, all of that. often they need to freeze on a version , lock it in dev, for schedule and bug fixing reasons. judge all you want but don't pretend you actually know.

and if you ARE going to go down that road, Nintendo themselves will reap the whirlwind for a billion reasons involving crap online systems

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Ohhh, now i get it....Ok then.

 

[Raijinto]

I don't appreciate the inquisition, but if you calmed down for a second and read my posts, it's pretty clear that I've said, several times, that yes; EA didn't bother to implement this but if Nintendo bothered to solve the problem at the root this would be a non issue to begin with as EA wouldn't have needed to do anything. Which is directly related to the subject matter of the thread.

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I'm perfectly calm thank you for your concern, at least as calm as you in a Xenoblade thread lol that was a thing.

You sound really defensive, you could be a bit more appreciative of where some other people think the blame should be here.

 

[Oregano]

What's facepalm about my post? It's a genuine question. Playing with friends on Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon 2 especially is a subpar experience compared to what other systems on the market offer. EA dropped the ball here (lol), so if other developers have had to go out of their way to make things as user friendly as possible, why hasn't Nintendo?

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Fifa doesn't let you play with friends full stop. It's a false equivalence.

 

[Minsc]

So to summarize:

EA: "Not my job"
Others: "Hmm, this can be worked around pretty easily and would make our product better, so let me do it!"

Seems to be the impression I get from the issue, and then people are just taking a stand with EA's "not my job" stance. Some feel they're right, it's not their job to fix issues that could be handled by the OS, and are on other platforms, and other people feel that just because it's "not their job", that doesn't mean they shouldn't do the work if others seem to be able to who are operating with less.

 

[Dunban]

Again someone can correct me if I'm wrong but it's disingenous to say that it's not "system level" on the Switch. An example of it not being system level would be the Wii/DS.

On PS4/XBO/PC you still need to add those hooks into the game as you would on Switch.

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Perhaps I'm misinformed, then. Hopefully some insider or another will come along and offer their take.

 

[Lizardus]

I DO hope that with the paid online coming next year, Nintendo implements the ability to send messages to friends and invite them to a party/game on a systemwide level. I often find myself missing those features when playing on the Switch.