'FIFA' is one of those titles that just sounds right to say, but from next year, the football series will have a new title: 'EA Sports FC'.
The New York Times have reported that FIFA, the governing body that rules world football have ended their agreement with game publishers Electronic Arts, and as such, FIFA's name will no longer be the centrepiece of the football title.
The less snappy 'EA Sports FC' will be EA's flagship franchise going forward, and all the player and club licenses that the games are famous for will still remain.
Very little will change for players, however.
Licenses are negotiated with separate clubs and leagues, meaning we'll still get to play as Kylian Mbappe and not some legally distinct counterpart.
“EA Sports is a long-term and valued partner of the Premier League, and we look forward to continuing to work together in the new era,” Richard Masters, the chief executive of the Premier League, said in a statement. announcing its break from FIFA.
"Our vision for EA SPORTS FC is to create the largest and most impactful football club in the world, at the epicenter of football fandom," said Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson.
"For nearly 30 years, we’ve been building the world’s biggest football community - with hundreds of millions of players, thousands of athlete partners, and hundreds of leagues, federations, and teams. EA SPORTS FC will be the club for every one of them, and for football fans everywhere."
However, all FIFA-branded tournaments, such as the World Cup, will no longer feature in the game.
Negotiations between the video game giant and the governing body broke down, and as such, the agreement has now ended, meaning that EA cannot use FIFA's branding in their games.
The current deal, which was to end after this year’s World Cup in Qatar, has been adjusted to run through to the Women’s World Cup in 2023.
At the conclusion of that tournament, company officials confirmed, 150 million FIFA video game players will have to get used to a new name for their beloved football series: EA Sports FC.
Negotiations began earlier this year to re-up the deal, and FIFA requested more money - with the games making over $20 billion in revenue since launching in the mid-1990s, FIFA wanted a slice of the incredibly lucrative pie.
FIFA were requesting double their $150 million contribution fee from EA Sports to continue lending their brand to their series of football games, but the talks broke down.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino was directly involved in talks with Andrew Wilson, in an attempt to reach an agreement, but Wilson told the New York Times that the sides agreed to an "amicable separation."
“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,” Wilson said.
FIFA also requested the ability to attach its brand to other digital products, including other video games, which gave EA cold feet.
This year's edition of FIFA will likely be the last under the traditional 'FIFA' branding, with the 2024 edition the first to be relesaed under the new moniker.
For their part, FIFA can liscence the World Cup branding to other video game developers to make a tie-in game.
Ubisoft's World Cup 2026, anyone?
