After three decades, FIFA and Electronic Arts have announced the end of their successful partnership
On 15 December 1993, the first-ever official FIFA video game was published by video game maker Electronic Arts. Three decades later, the two parties have mutually agreed to end their partnership, which is one of the most commercially fruitful partnerships in the world of football. While the two firms have announced the decision, the partnership will officially end in 2023 after the Women’s World Cup.
What is the importance of this article?
In the gaming universe, the official game of FIFA is one of the top video games in the genre of sports. Be it a rookie gamer or a professional gamer, since 1993, most of the football fans have grown up with FIFA by EA Sports. However, from 2023, the game will be renamed EA Sports FC and therefore, some elements in the game are likely to get changed. Therefore, for football fans and FIFA gamers, this article is worth a read.
What went wrong?
As per reports published by several world-renowned media outlets, EA Sports made a “significant offer” to FIFA in exchange for FIFA’s entire range of esports and gaming rights for eight years. However, FIFA did not allow all its rights to EA Sports because the football governing body aims to launch its football video game with other gaming studios.
What else?
FIFA did not merely deny all the rights to EA, but the governing body also demanded a more valuable contract than it currently has with EA Sports. As per a report published by the New York Times, FIFA sought double the amount it currently receives (150 million US dollars annually) from EA Sports.
What’s next?
The partnership was supposed to end after the conclusion of the Qatar World Cup 2022, but the two parties have agreed to extend it till the conclusion of the Women’s World Cup in 2023. However, EA Sports has confirmed that major players, clubs and leagues will feature in the next year’s rebranded video game because of over 300 private licensing partners.
What will the gamers miss?
Last but not the least, at the moment, it is hard to point out the elements that gamers will miss from the next year’s rebranded video game but FIFA-controlled in-game tournaments such as World Cup and a few others will be left out for sure.
