FIFA 14 on PC won't use Ignite engine

Only the next-generation console versions of FIFA 14, not the Windows PC version, will use the new Ignite engine, said Electronic Arts' Rob Hodson on Twitter.

"Clarification for the PC-related questions earlier — EA Sports Ignite will power FIFA 14 on Xbox One and [PlayStation 4], not PC," said Hodson, the U.K. community manager for EA's FIFA franchise. We reached out to FIFA 14 developer EA Canada, and a representative for the studio confirmed that fact.

EA Sports head Andrew Wilson announced the Ignite engine yesterday during Microsoft's Xbox One reveal event as a suite of technologies that will serve as the foundation for all of EA's next-generation sports titles. EA said in a press release afterward that FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, NBA Live 14 and EA Sports UFC will all be released on One and PS4 within the next year.

However, EA's press release and its Ignite website specifically call out "next-generation consoles" alone — PS4 and Xbox One — as the platforms supported by the engine; there's no mention of PC. For that matter, they don't mention Wii U, either. EA confirmed last week that it will not release a Wii U version of FIFA 14 because of the poor sales of FIFA 13 on Wii U.

This isn't altogether surprising, considering EA's near-complete lack of support for PC when it comes to sports games. FIFA is the only EA Sports title that's still released on PC, and until FIFA 11 in 2010, the PC version lagged behind the engine and feature set of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. Madden NFL 08 and NBA Live 08, which came out in 2007, and 2008's NHL 09, were the last entries in their respective franchises to be released on PC.