“Some people think it’s live” – How is the commentary in EA FC 26 put together?

Games like Actua Soccer seem primitive now compared to the modern era of face scanning and movie-style graphics, and so did the process of adding the first commentary.

When Davies first entered the studio in 1995, he relied on realism.

Speaking to BBC Sport in 2020, Davies explained: “The company behind Actua Software contacted my agent.” “I had no idea what they wanted to do, or very little anyway. Then I went to see them and really changed the way they wanted to do it.

“I told them you can’t use the same method to identify a player every time he touches the ball, it has to be at different levels depending on where he is on the pitch, as I do when I’m doing commentary normally.

“So I gave them about five different versions of each player’s name, changing the emphasis each time. That probably gave them more work to do, but as a result, it seemed more realistic in my opinion.”

Saying each player’s name in several different tones has been one of Mowbray’s most frequent tasks over the past few years too, for use in everything from playing a two-yard pass on the halfway line to smashing a world-class player into the top corner from 25 yards – but his job is much bigger.

Actua Soccer had 704 players – 22 for each of the 32 men’s national teams included – but there are over 20,000 actual male and female soccer players in the soccer club, with more being added all the time.

While EA does provide some assistance to Mowbray here, with part of that process involving the AI ​​repeating his voice with his permission for certain names, they clearly don’t want to lose his human touch.

“AI has long been part of our development pipeline – from animation to gameplay systems – and continues to support our teams in delivering better, more responsive football experiences,” EA said. “But when it comes to commentary and content, it’s always a collaboration with our talent — not a substitute.”

Instead, it’s real life they turn to for inspiration.

“There were times when we were, for example, in a Champions League match, and [Russell] I listened to it specifically to get a sense of how we would work together in actual commentary, because we would be trying to replicate that relationship in the game. “It’s the little things like that that really add to the realism,” Smith said.

“When you put your headphones on, they make a crowd sound over the top so you have to raise your voice over it. This helps me immerse myself more – I’m not just screaming because of the silence, which would never happen in real life either.”