A video developer says recreating Luton Town’s stadium for a best-selling computer game was a “great challenge” given that the real-life version is surrounded by closely-packed terraced housing.
Fab Muoio is an art director in a team of more than 200 people at Electronic Arts Vancouver, where they develop EA FC 24, which now includes a virtual Kenilworth Road.
He said: “I think the shape of it and the size, compared to some of our larger stadiums – it’s a bit on the smaller side.
“Just looking at the row of houses close by and ensuring it works with our gameplay cameras and there’s no issues there when it comes to play-ability.”
EA Sports FC 24 is the newest release of the game franchise, previously known as Fifa.
The Hatters’ ground joined more than 100 other locations already available to gamers.
Kenilworth Road, which is squeezed in among the terraced housing of Bury Park, has been the home of the club since 1905, though there are plans to move to a new stadium, Power Court, in the near future.
The team behind the game uses as many reference photographs as possible in addition to schematics to source accurate measurements.
Mr Muoio explained: “We have to do our best to recreate it as accurately as possible while still making sure we have play-ability.”
The developer said he can “recreate some of the geometry of the stadium and the textures to make sure it comes to life”.
The virtual Kenilworth Road includes updates made to the ground since the club won promotion to the Premier League.
The Bobbers Stand, which cost £10m, is visible to gamers playing in the stadium.
Mr Muoio praised people working at the developer’s licencee team for ensuring each location remained up to date.
He said: “Even stadiums we’ve had in the game for years get upgraded in the real world and we try to match some of those in the game as best we can.”
He said a memorable part of recreating Kenilworth Road for the game was showing how close it was to a residential area.
The art director described the stadium as “very unique” with “great character”.
“It’s certainly something that sticks out and is cool… those are the funnest to work on,” he said.
“Any time we have something that has a ton of character, it’s always fun to recreate and it’s a great challenge for our team.”
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