A teen footballer who was murdered in 2006 has been added to FIFA 21 in a joint collaboration between EA, Queen’s Park Rangers, and the Kiyan Prince Foundation.
Kiyan Prince, who was a youth footballer at Queen’s Park Rangers, died while trying to break up a fight at his school in Edgware in 2006.
To honour Prince, and to bring awareness to the effects of knife crime, Prince is being added to FIFA 21 on the 15th anniversary of his death. He will appear in game as a 30-year-old, playing for QPR.
𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞.
On the 1⃣5⃣th anniversary of his death.
𝗞𝗶𝘆𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 returns to life as the professional footballer he should have been
@easportsfifa 𝘅 @thekpf#QPR | #LongLiveThePrince pic.twitter.com/csbZBvhvhQ
— QPR FC (@QPR) May 18, 2021
EA worked with Prince’s family and friends, and employed digital graphics studio Framestore (who worked on Avengers: Endgame) in conjunction with imagery from Prince’s teens to create his in-game experience.
Speaking to Reuters, Prince’s father Dr Mark Prince, former IBF and WBO inter-continental light-heavyweight boxing champion, talked about his inclusion in FIFA 21, saying:”My hope is that the world finally gets to glimpse Kiyan’s incredible potential fulfilled. We get to honour his talent and, hopefully, we can inspire other kids to honour their own talent too.”
Dr Prince founded the Kiyan Prince Foundation in 2007, to raise awareness and combat knife crime, and other forms of youth violence. He gives motivational talks and conducts workshops to help young people make better choices.
Les Ferdinand, former striker, and current director of football for QPR, has said that the inclusion of Kiyan could help to send a message to young people, saying: “Most of these guys, this generation, they play FIFA, they will see Kiyan and if that can change just one of their mindsets then it will be a benefit.”
Kiyan Prince is now available in FIFA 21‘s Kick-Off mode and career mode on PC, and will be available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S from May 19. Ultimate Team players will be able to access custom Prince vanity items though the completion of in-game objectives.
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