Why EA Sports dropped FIFA franchise – and how FIFA reacted

Robin Bairner

• 11 May 2022 10:41 BST
• 4 min read

EA Sports has announced that it has dropped the FIFA video game – but has announced a replacement franchise to be called EA Sports FC, prompting a reaction from world football’s governing body.

FIFA 23 will be the last instalment of a series that has been running since 1993 as world football’s governing body was unable to reach an agreement with the developer over a new licence agreement for the game.

It is a move that has been months in the making, with reports late in 2021 suggesting that a split was on the cards.

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This was confirmed on Tuesday, as Electronic Arts SEO Andrew Wilson said: “Our vision for EA SPORTS FC is to create the largest and most impactful football club in the world, at the epicentre of football fandom.

“For nearly 30 years, we’ve been building the world’s biggest football community – with hundreds of millions of players, thousands of athlete partners, and hundreds of leagues, federations, and teams. EA SPORTS FC will be the club for every one of them, and for football fans everywhere.”

FIFA were quick to react, indicating that they will make their own in-house game.

“I can assure you that the only authentic, real game that has the FIFA name will be the best one available for gamers and football fans,” FIFA president Giovanni Infantino said.

“The FIFA name is the only global, original title. FIFA 23, FIFA 24, FIFA 25 and FIFA 26, and so on — the constant is the FIFA name and it will remain forever and remain THE BEST.”

FIFA already has plans for new non-simulation games to be launched in the build-up to the World Cup in Qatar.

Why have EA Sports dropped the FIFA franchise?

Beyond their inability to reach an agreement over the FIFA licence, which would reportedly have cost $250 million per year – there are deeper issues that have caused EA Sports to break from their long-running agreement with the organisation.

EA Sports reportedly want to drive the franchise in more money-making directions, with it suggested that revenue streams such as NFTs and blockchain could be explored.

Furthermore, the Ultimate Team mode, which drew $1.62 billion across EA’s franchises in 2021, including a “substantial portion” from FIFA, can be better exploited by the developer, who could try new things without the say so of football’s governing body. They could also keep a larger portion of the profits.

Will EA still have real player names and competitions?

The good news for EA fans is that they will still retain the licences to all the key leagues and competition in the immediate future as they have worked to build relationships with these sources to bring in licenced content.

Among the competitions EA Sports FC will have will be the UEFA Champions League, Premier League, Bundesliga, LaLiga and Serie A.