EA and FIFA terminated their contract. After the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the famous football simulation will change its name permanently. Goodbye FIFA then, the game will now be called EA Sports FC.
After a partnership of almost thirty years, one of the most successful relationships between a video game publisher and a sports organization comes to an end. And yes, after months of complicated negotiations between world football’s governing body FIFA and EA, no agreement was reached between the two parties to extend the license agreement that bound the two entities.
In fact, FIFA 22 will be the last game of the license to use this name. Indeed, the current agreement will end just after the final whistle of the next Women’s World Cup, which will take place from July 20 to August 20, 2023. Once the competition is over, the 150 million FIFA players across the world will have to deal with a new name, namely EA Sports FC.
As reputable journalist Jeff Grub explained a few weeks ago, the negotiations between the two entities did not succeed, in particular because new requests from FIFA. To continue to operate the FIFA license for the next ten years, the international institution wanted to double the amount requested from EA. In fact, the American publisher should not have parted with 150 million dollars a year, but rather $300 million. That’s $3 billion over ten years.
Read also: FIFA 22 – cross-play is finally coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Stadia
An amicable separation between FIFA and EA, for lack of agreement
Moreover, this was not the only request from FIFA. The organization also wanted to end EA’s exclusivity, by selling the exploitation rights of the FIFA license to other video game publishers. We think for example of Konami with PES. For EA, this final request was worth a red card. One-on-one talks between FIFA boss Gianni Infantino and EA CEO Andrew Wilson failed to produce a deal either.
Fact, the two parties have agreed to an amicable separationas the editor’s manager reports: “It was really about how to do more for the players, for the fans, how to give them more ways to play, how to bring in more partners in the game, how to go beyond the limits of the traditional game”, he explains.
If EA will therefore no longer be able to use certain official competitions managed by FIFA such as the World Cup in its games, players can be reassured. EA Sports can count on no less than 300 other similar licensing agreements concluded with sports organizations such as UEFA, leading the Champions League as well as international leagues and competitions around the world. Other competitions have made it known that they are lining up behind the publisher, such as the Premier League for example. On his side, FIFA is looking for a new partner to replace EA.
Source : NY Times
