After nearly 30 years, the end of an era has come. As announced by EA Sports through a statement, the association between the famous video game developer and FIFA has been dissolved after the two parties failed to reach an agreement on the extension of their commercial relationship. That deal will end at the end of the Women’s World Cup next summer.
Farewell to an entertainment legend
The rupture of relations is purely economic. Until now, EA was receiving 150 million euros a year from FIFA, but the company wanted to start charging double due to the enormous success of its simulator, sold in more than 100 countries around the world.
Once the agreement expires, the most famous football simulator on the planet will be called EA Sports FC. The biggest change to the game will be that the World Cup itself and other FIFA-controlled events will no longer be represented, although most players and clubs will still be usable. In any case, it’s a remarkable rebranding for a series that the data shows has generated more than €20 billion in sales over the last 20 years.
Why FIFA is the best soccer simulator
The specialized software used for the development of any video game is called the Game Engine. EA Sports has been using a game engine called Frostbite 3 since FIFA 17, which was like anchoring the foundations of a building on which the skyscraper of the FIFA saga was built. You can use the same base (the game engine) and build different and improved buildings (versions) every year.
Although FIFA is updated every fall, implementing more gameplay and better graphics, the base is the same. FIFA 21 forever changed the way a sports simulator works by introducing improved tactical player movement, better reactions and better gameplay.
An economic question
Through a statement, FIFA assured that it had “diversified its rights” and that it would launch new soccer games with other development studios. “I can assure you that the only authentic and real game that has the name of FIFA will be the one that is available to football players and fans,” said the entity’s president, Gianni Infantino, who assured that “there will be FIFA 23, FIFA 24, FIFA 25 and FIFA 26, and so on: the constant is the name of FIFA and it will remain forever and will continue to be the best.”
For its part, EA Sports announced that it will also launch its own soccer game, but under the title of EA Sports FC, and assured that this new initiative plans to “take global soccer experiences to new heights.” While EA Sports has laid out the path forward for a new soccer video game, the options for FIFA present a different challenge.
