There were rumours then news of a disagreement but few could have expected the split between EA and FIFA to actually come to pass. For 30 years, the football governing body’s name was a banker atop video games sales charts no matter the quality. FIFA 23 will be the last game under that title in the EA series.
But the change is almost entirely superficial. Unlike the NFL, NBA and NHL, the governing body of soccer hold no rights to players or clubs.
EA Sports learned that lesson the stupid way back in the early 1990s before engaging in a decade-long quest to sew up the biggest player and team licenses for the world’s most popular sport.
A Unique Licensing Arrangement
As the aforementioned tale of EA’s initial license acquisition shows, FIFA don’t own any licenses other than the World Cup and Club World Cup. EA Sports has existing licensing arrangements, some of them exclusive, with the biggest leagues, players and tournaments.
The upcoming EA Sports FC is presumably due out in autumn 2023 as per the annual release schedule. The game will have all of the same content outside of the FIFA-held tournament properties. The World Cup and Club World Cup being the best known of these and likely the only FIFA properties of any concern to EA.
The World Cup is the most watched sporting event on the planet and its name sells video games. However, that’s a bridge EA Sports FC won’t have to cross until 2026 as World Cup 2022 in Qatar this coming winter is still covered by the current deal and will, also presumably, appear as DLC of some sort for FIFA 23.
The other tournament may as well not exist. Nobody cares about the FIFA Club World Cup but it still appears annually in EA’s FIFA series.
What’s in a Name?
A large cohort of FIFA‘s purchasing base are casual players; fans of the sport itself and/or a particular team. They know who FIFA are. They know the game named for it has their team in it, awkward-looking manager model and all.
At the very far end of that video-game ambivalence spectrum lays a sizeable crowd of FIFA players who may experience a chilling effect on seeing a different name on the box.
You are reading an article about the seismic shift in the video game industry as a powerhouse sheds its name and a three-decades long relationship dissolves – you are already in the loop. Many are not; hesitation and confusion in those pockets may harm sales of the game.
EA Sports FC will be joined on shelves by FIFA, a property being developed by FIFA themselves.
The governing body announced they would be making a game bearing the now-iconic moniker. “The FIFA name is the only global, original title”, they said.
Whether EA can scream their EA Sports FC name loud enough to be heard by every potential customer remains to be seen. But FIFA could well be an unwelcome ghost on the shelf for the EA’s new name.
How ill-conceived an idea is it for FIFA to try make a game?? Will it even get released?? Will the FIFA name on the shelf harm EA Sports FC’s chances out of the gate?? Or will EA’s marketing power inform the masses effectively??
