EA blows the final whistle on FIFA

pcgamer.com:

Last year EA announced it would look to re-brand the long-running FIFA series. Reports at the time suggested that FIFA wanted too much money for EA executives, who were increasingly aware that the game is bigger than the license. The break-up seemed inevitable when EA trademarked 'EA Sports FC', and now it's happened officially.

EA's current licensing deal with FIFA means that we will see a FIFA 23 later this year, but from 2023 onwards the series will be called EA Sports FC. The first FIFA game was made for the Sega Mega Drive in 1993, so that marks 30 years of what has to be considered one of the all-time great sports series.

David Jackson, vice president at EA Sports, told the BBC: «The world of football and the world of entertainment are changing, and they clash within our product.

»In the future our players will demand of us the ability to be more expansive in that offering. At the moment, we engage in play as a primary form of interactive experience. Soon, watching and creating content are going to be equally as important for fans.

«Under the licensing conventions that we had agreed with FIFA 10 years ago, there were some restrictions that weren't going to allow us to be able to build those experiences for players.»

Sounds a bit better than 'FIFA wanted too much of our lovely money', but it is also true or at least arguable that EA has done a lot more than FIFA to build the FIFA brand over recent decades. The publisher did greatly benefit from the authenticity that came with the license—official kits, player names, and stadia—but now is able to negotiate directly with teams and national leagues. It says it has already signed up 19,000 players, 700 teams, and more than 30 leagues for EA Sports FC.

However much sense