For the first time in the long-standing history of EA Sports’ FIFA franchise, Cristiano Ronaldo will grace the cover of the annual installment. Ronaldo was announced as the cover athlete for FIFA 18 today by EA Sports.
The world’s game fueled by the world’s best #FIFA18 @Cristiano
Ronaldo Edition 👉 https://t.co/LWJm5OBw2e pic.twitter.com/7vQseYcY1i
— EA SPORTS FC (@EASPORTSFC) June 5, 2017
EA Sports was eager to get to work with Ronaldo by getting him geared up for their team to capture his movements. Via a press release from EA Sports;
Not long after he was named the world’s best footballer by FIFA in January, we went to Madrid to spend some quality time with Portugal and Real Madrid’s finest. We set him up in the famous EA Sports motion capture suit and meticulously recorded his every movement to bring Ronaldo’s every attribute to FIFA 18. From his explosive acceleration and those famous chop moves to that unique running style and lethal shooting technique, you’ll see all of this data come to life in how players move, behave and interact when you get your hands on FIFA 18 on September 29, or sooner.
This is a pretty big year for EA Sports with cover athletes. Earlier this year, EA Sports revealed New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as the cover athlete for Madden NFL 18. It is the first time Brady will appear on the cover of the game, which means Brady and Ronaldo will each be featured on an EA Sports title this year for the first time. However, this is not Ronaldo’s first time appearing as a cover athlete. He had been featured as the cover athlete for Pro Evolution Soccer in 2008, 2012, and 2013.
FIFA 18 will be built on the Frostbite engine from EA Sports for a second straight year. The game will be released on Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One on September 29, 2017. You can get the game sooner with a pre-order of “The Ronaldo Edition,” which comes with 20 Jumbo Premium Gold Packs, a Ronaldo loan player, and extra in-game features.
As for you Nintendo Switch users out there, there still seems to be some confusion over how EA Sports is going to bring the FIFA franchise to Nintendo’s latest piece of hardware as they initially promised. But the Switch was not mentioned in today’s news, meaning Nintendo FIFA fans may be left in the dark over the franchise’s plans for the Switch until E3.
