EA boss claims FIFA is just "four letters on the front of the box"
EA boss Andrew Wilson has claimed that the FIFA licence is «an impediment» to the publisher's ambitions for the football series.
The comments were made in an internal meeting from November provided to VGC, in which Wilson discussed the status of licensing negotiations with FIFA.
Wilson claimed FIFA had precluded EA from expanding beyond the usual gameplay modes, or «broader digital ecosystems», and the only value the FIFA licence brings in a non-World Cup year is «four letters on the front of the box».
In October last year, it was reported that EA was exploring the idea of dropping the FIFA name from its games, as the current agreement comes to an end in 2022.
Later, it was reported that FIFA wants «more than double» from EA to renew its licence, costing over $1 billion for each four-year World Cup cycle.
These latest comments from Wilson suggest EA isn't prepared to pay up and that it might actually benefit from ditching the FIFA brand, especially now that the FIFA games are more recognised than FIFA itself.
«I'm going to be more open… more open than I've been with the outside world,» said Wilson. «We've had a great relationship with FIFA over the past 30-odd years. We've created billions in value… it's just huge. We've created one of the biggest entertainment properties on the planet.
»I would argue — and this may be a little biased — that the FIFA brand has more meaning as a video game than it does a governing body of soccer. We don't take that for granted and we try not to be arrogant. We've worked really hard to try and make FIFA understand what we need for the future."
He continued: «Basically, what we get from FIFA in a non-World Cup year is the four letters on the front of the box, in a world where most people
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