After nearly three decades, FIFA ed Electronic Arts (EA) announce the end of your relationship: from next year the 150 million players of FIFA games will have to get used to playing EA Sports FC. The current agreement covers the Cup of Male world in Qatar and that female next year.
Divorce between FIFA and EA, EA Sports FC is born
The game itself shouldn’t change much. Most of the players and clubs got a deal with EA, so we can see names, faces and logos known to all football lovers. But the World Cup and other FIFA events will presumably have different names and logos.
But the biggest change is in the name of the game series. Instead of FIFA and the year of the football season, fans will have to get used to playing EA Sports FC 2023.
In recent years, the agreement between EA Sports and FIFA has spawned all over the world $ 20 billion: one of the most prolific games of all time. Indeed, for many players, buying the updated version every year was a must and even the most ‘casual’ gamers have kicked the virtual ball of some FIFA.
But divorce was in the air. FIFA was trying to double up the investment from 150 million dollars that every year EA Sports gave her: the largest commercial partner for the organization. The current agreement comes over ten years ago. But FIFA has not only insisted on doubling its takings, it seems that was not willing to give up exclusivity: other games could have used FIFA licenses.
Failure to deal certainly has a negative return for EA Sports, which will have to recalibrate the branding of its product. But the company has agreements with Premier League and the Champions League exclusively, as well as having contacts with the main clubs in the main leagues. At the moment, it seems unlikely that FIFA can find an equally profitable deal. Although it could find several smaller partnerships.
We will keep you updated on the evolution of the issue.
Source
The New York Times