After months of speculation, EA has finally announced that it will be ending its partnership with FIFA, branching out into a new soccer game series titled EA Sports FC. The news follows a long period of rumors, leaks, and suggestive statements from the games company, with EA's CEO stating that the FIFA brand was bad for its games in a meeting earlier this year.
Releasing its first entry back in 1993, the FIFA series has long been a core part of the annual sports game release schedule, alongside other franchises like NBA 2K and Madden, also published by EA. While the series has seen its fair share of controversy thanks to in-game purchases, it has been incredibly successful, and each iteration typically appears on lists of that year's best-selling games. Despite this popularity, cracks in the EA-FIFA relationship began to show last year, and EA CEO Andrew Wilson reportedly told internal staff that the license was holding the series back from pushing out regular updates and partnering with certain brands just a few months ago. Statements like these, alongside new trademark filings by EA, led many to believe that the two organizations were headed towards a split.
A statement issued today, May 10, on the EA website has confirmed its longstanding partnership with FIFA has ended, going on to reveal the new name of all future EA-published soccer games: EA Sports FC - a title unambiguously free from any FIFA branding. The statement assures fans that all the content they have come to expect from the FIFA games will remain in place moving forward, but that this new route will allow the series to "innovate, create and evolve." The statement also notes that FIFA 2023 will be releasing as planned this year, with the new EA Sports FC title taking over in summer of 2023.
Critics and players alike generally consider modern FIFA games to have only subtle improvements over their predecessors, and one of the biggest complaints from fans of the series is the lack of innovation and change between full-priced releases. If this split from FIFA does indeed allow EA to deliver more substantial changes to its soccer games, it has the potential to go over well with players.
However, those hoping for a true "new era" may want to tamper their expectations until more is revealed about the future of EA Sports FC. EA has been successful in publishing similar FIFA products each year, so there is little reason to believe that the company is keen to put more effort, money, and resources behind evolving the series if it isn't necessary. Where exactly the FIFA gaming license will go after EA, however, could result in a much less predictable outcome.
Source: EA