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Electronic Arts (EA) & FIFA Call It Quits, EA Sports FC for 2023
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After almost 28 years of EA Sports’ FIFA game series being the most iconic soccer game in the market, the famous partnership/collaboration between the two organizations that brought us FIFA 94 all the way to FIFA 22, is finally ending.
After news a few months ago about FIFA pushing for a $1 billion licensing deal for EA Sports to use their name, image, and likeness, in all future EA Sports FIFA games, the deal fell through. Now, EA Sports have announced the future direction of their soccer video game: the introduction of EA Sports FC. All news soccer games that EA Sports release will no longer follow the FIFA history, but will be EA Sports FC.
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Some fans aren’t too pleased considering EA Sports FC doesn’t have the same ring as FIFA 24. However, this new change will still have more than 300 individual licensed partners, giving players access to more than 19,000 athletes across 700 teams, in 100 stadiums and over 30 leagues around the world. Players will still get the same interface, experience, and online interaction as FIFA 22 and previous games, but without the FIFA brand.
This coming fall, EA will release their last ever FIFA with the FIFA title rights, making FIFA 23, the 30th and final FIFA game released, truly ending an era for nostalgic soccer fans and gamers.
It’s going to be a big change, but much else isn’t expected to change except for the licensing of FIFA in the game, on the cover, and in the name itself, with EA actually planning to release even more features, gamemodes, and more to their future game releases, including playing in the Women’s World Cup.
Overall, this does make you wonder if maybe Pro Evolution Soccer, EA’s only competition in the past decade, will swoop in and pay the heavy price tag for FIFA’s licensing rights. Or perhaps a new competitor will take the reins with a new game with even newer technology (perhaps Virtual Reality FIFA coming soon). We don’t really know. From a personal standpoint, it's been a pleasure playing FIFA all these years, but a simple name change won’t alter the game we love (and sometimes hate).
Published: May 13, 2022 - Issue 38 of The Sport Marketeer