EA SPORTS FIFA & FC
It's 1997 and I'm just a little boy in the fractured Balkans with dreams of being a chef when I grow up. A family friend shows me FIFA 98. I instantly become hooked and obsessed with games, desperately wanting to be a part of EA one day.
29 years later, l find myself leading FC Player Facing Operations.
Life sure has a way of working out sometimes, doesn't it?
I'm The Voice Of FIFA / FC
Connecting authentically with players.
Since 2018 I've had the honor of leading FIFA/FC developer communications with players. From patch notes to broad-reaching videos, I continue to expand FC transparency and build new levels of trust. My methods have improved product sentiment by 200% across 140 million players.
Here's some of my recent work:
FC 26 Gameplay Deep Dive | FC 26 Feedback Program | Social Comms | FC Tracker
Input Overlay Design
An essential feature for devs and core players.
Inspired by my love of fighting games, I designed FC's Input Overlay to solve for cases of players experiencing or perceiving technical issues. The Overlay shows the player's local inputs, how the server perceives them, and originally had handy technical information in plain sight with no obstruction to players.
The latter proved so useful to FC devs for fixing live issues that they went on to integrate this information into a default UI element.
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Connection Monitoring Design
A much better understanding of online play and issues.
FC players are deeply passionate and can often detect if the game is off by just 1 millisecond. But networking conditions are not always in their control and can cause a myriad of issues.
Working with internal partners, I designed and implemented Connection Monitoring options. They help players understand what's going on when playing online, they funnel players towards to potential solutions, and they help devs better identify live issues.
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Gameplay And Other Features
Merging business goals with player desires.
I'm a key stakeholder on the FC franchise, so I review, adjust, and sign off on all major features, gameplay changes, and modes.
From the smallest UI element to the most meta-impacting gameplay updates, I help balance FC business goals with player wants and needs.
Want to know more? Feel free to ask about my favorite moment of impact in this space when we get in touch.
24 / 7 Live Issue & Incident Support
FC doesn't sleep (and neither do game devs).
All live services have their emergencies and for FC it's often up to me to respond to them.
I provide 24/7 support on a rotating schedule and am responsible for gathering and guiding critical incident emergency response teams.
My team and I are constantly leveling up EA's emergency readiness, and I'm proud of the fact that we've been the driving force behind reducing incidents year over year.
Roadmap & Product Ownership
Anticipating and responding to player needs.
I lead the Player Facing Operations vision and roadmap for the FC series.
Much of the work you see on this page is thanks to a deep understanding of player and business needs, and then working with partners to create long-term projects for those needs.
To learn about my qualitative and quantitative approach for mapping out the world's biggest sports game, let's get in touch.
Turning Feedback Into Action
Processing millions of competing voices.
Working with brilliant partners, I innovated a net-new pipeline for regularly processing millions of pieces of FC feedback, turning them into actionable insights for devs and leaders.
I proudly own this process while reporting results/KPIs to senior leaders and development partners across all areas of the product.
Want to hear more about my work in this space? Let's chat soon.
Using AI To Empower People
Unlocking human capabilities through AI tools.
AI is like CG in movies. It's easy to spot it when it's low quality or rushed, but when done right it's invisible and everyone benefits.
At EA I've established AI-assisted workflows and tools that help colleagues spend 40% less time on communication and reporting work. I've also unlocked net-new product quality functions that would quite literally be impossible without AI.
Let's talk if you want to know more.
Let's Talk
You can email popovicportfolio@gmail.com to get in touch, click the button below to connect through this site, or say hi on LinkedIn.