6. FIFA Developers Were Crestfallen When Thierry Henry Joined PES
The battle between FIFA and PES didn't stop with gameplay, graphics or licensing, it also extended to player relationships. On the cover of FIFA 2004, then-Arsenal striker Thierry Henry was displayed as one of the top stars who clearly preferred FIFA to the closest rival. As it turned out, that wasn't the truth, Henry later outed himself as a bigger fan of Konami's game than EA's. This occurred when the Frenchmen unthinkably signed a deal with the Japanese developer to feature on the cover of Pro Evolution Soccer 4 in 2004. During a press announcement to signal his defection to PES, Henry said that he had been playing the games for around a decade and thought PES was a more accurate representation of real-life football. One of EA's workers, Chip Lange felt the comments were hard to take. It would have been easy for FIFA to then roll over and let PES win the football-related video game war, but EA Sports reportedly only became more motivated by what Henry had said. It's incredible to imagine that all of this was going on when gamers were simply looking for a great football title they could enjoy on PS2 and Xbox.