Electronic Arts has announced today that, starting from 2023, its football games will be available with a brand new name – EA Sports FC.
Confirming rumors whirling over the last couple years, EA and FIFA are parting ways after this year’s game, which is coming “this autumn” and will still retain the usual branding.
EA Sports FC is pitched as a next-generation “platform” boasting more than 150 million players, as confirmed in a press release complete with quotes from licensing partners including Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga, UEFA, Conmebol, and Nike.
The game will still feature over 300 partners with individual licenses, 19,000+ athletes spread across 700 clubs, more than 100 stadiums, and 30 leagues from all over the world.
EA’s next journey is also aiming at being more inclusive, with the promise of exploring new areas in women’s football and street soccer.
Players can expect EA Sports FC to keep featuring the iconic UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Conmebol Libertadores, Premier League, Bundesliga, LaLiga, Serie A, MLS, and many more.
The new game is set to cover football season 2023/2024, and more details will be available in Summer 2023.
Andrew Wilson, CEO at Electronic Arts, said he’s “grateful” to FIFA for the almost 30 years of successful cooperation, and confirmed that one more game will be released under the existing partnership.
FIFA 23 is claimed to be “the biggest and most expansive EA Sports FIFA game ever”, with more game modes, features, clubs, leagues, players, and competitions.
With cross-play currently in beta testing on FIFA 22 – released last year, covering this season – that’s likely the first new feature coming to the series when the new game launches later this year – which will presumably be called FIFA 23. Whether EA Sports FC will continue the year-based numbering or not, we’ll see next year. Presumably, there is some argument to remove yearly game sales entirely and create an ongoing game you update.
“As we look ahead, we’re also exploring the idea of renaming our global EA Sports football games. This means we’re reviewing our naming rights agreement with FIFA, which is separate from all our other official partnerships and licenses across the football world,” said EA Sports Group GM on October 7, 2021, mentioning for the first time the opportunity of parting ways with the football federation.
Since then, negotiations have been underway, with rumors of FIFA demanding a higher fee for the branding rights (according to the New York Times, a 10-year deal was pitched at $2.5 billion per year, twice the current fee) and EA giving up on exclusivity.
With rights expiring after December’s World Cup, EA was reportedly interested in renewing the deal, but also wanted more control over the likes of esports tournaments and digital goodies, such as NFTs.
Written by Paolo Sirio on behalf of GLHF.
