EA and FIFA have announced that they are ending their decades-old partnership for the FIFA video game franchise and moving forward, EA will change the franchise’s name to EA Sports FC. The termination comes after a successful partnership that lasted for almost three decades. The partnership was officially announced to end after Qatar’s World Cup later this year but as of now, the partnership has been extended to last until the Women’s World Cup in 2023.
After the event has concluded, the franchise will not use the name FIFA and it will be renamed EA Sports FC. While fans may be upset over this partnership’s end, EA is saying that ending the exclusive partnership will allow the franchise to grow in different ways which were previously not possible. The game’s overall structure and design will remain pretty much the same and it will still feature most of the world’s famous clubs and stars. However, World Cup itself and other FIFA-controlled events will no longer be part of the game.
The ending of the partnership was rumored for months and the main cause behind the split is probably FIFA seeking double of its $150 million share that it gets every year from EA Sports. FIFA has announced that it will release its own rival soccer simulation game in 2024 as well however no additional details are currently known on this new FIFA game. Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president commented:
I can assure you that the only authentic, real game that has the FIFA name will be the best one available for gamers and football fans. The FIFA name is the only global, original title.
Andrew Wilson, the Electronic Arts chief executive also commented on the split:
It was really about how can we do more for the players, more for the fans, how can we offer them more modalities to play, how can we bring more partners into the game, how can we expand beyond the bounds of the traditional game.
Additional details will be uncovered in the upcoming days about what EA is planning next and what FIFA’s original soccer simulator is.
