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The birth of the Fifa computer game

The birth of the Fifa computer game

Jan Tian says his devotion to coding the first EA Sports Fifa game nearly broke him

Sporting Witness · BBC World Service

December 9, 202310m 5s

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Show Notes

In December 1993, EA Sports released Fifa International Soccer, also known as Fifa 94.

The football game sold half a million copies in its first month and went on to become a cultural phenomenon.

Coder Jan Tian was the lead developer. He tells Vicky Farncombe how his devotion to the task landed him in hospital.

(Photo: Fifa International Soccer, the first Fifa game. Credit: Fifa/EA Sports/ Moby Games)