FIFA and EA Sports End 30-Year-Old Partnership, EA Sports FC Confirmed as New Name

gadgets.ndtv.com:

FIFA 23 will be the last FIFA video game from EA Sports, with the developer switching over to EA Sports FC next year, Electronic Arts has announced, in line with what trademark applications had revealed last October.

EA is parting ways with world football governing body FIFA after a near three-decade partnership and pulling the plug on one of the world's most successful video-game franchises that has raked in billions of dollars in sales. It marks a split in one of football's most successful and lucrative partnerships, after the sides failed to strike a new licensing deal.

Licensing rights for the game earn FIFA about $150 million (roughly Rs. 1,158 crore) annually — the single biggest commercial earner in its expected $7 billion (roughly Rs.54,066 crore) total revenue from 2019-2022 — though FIFA struck a defiant tone in a statement published hours after the announcement of losing that income.

FIFA was seeking at least double the $150 million it received annually from EA Sports, the New York Times reported last October, adding that there were different expectations of what should be included in a new agreement.

EA made a "significant offer" to FIFA for an eight-year exclusivity period across all of FIFA's gaming and esports rights, but the global footballing body was unwilling to lock up all of its gaming and esports rights with just one publisher, Reuters reported back in October.

However, both entities have reportedly adjusted to maintain the partnership till the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup next summer, with FIFA granting a new short-term extension to EA Sports to launch a new FIFA 23 title later this year.

But even before the EA Sports partnership wraps, FIFA has promised a “number of new non-simulation games" that