FIFA has demanded a huge amount of money if EA is continue to use the brand’s name in its synonymous annual football video games.
For years, the world’s bestselling football video game and the sport’s scandal-dogged international governing body have shared the same short acronym: FIFA.
But that all could change, because in a truly shocking turn of events that absolutely nobody could see coming, the organisation wants even more money; double as much, according to reports. For a four year deal, FIFA has demanded that EA pays a total of $1 billion to use its name on the video game.
A new report in the @nytimes states that the dispute between EA and FIFA is related to cost and new revenue streams
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) October 13, 2021
FIFA wants to charge EA double the amount ($1bn+ every 4 years) for the license and limit EA's ability to monetise beyond the game itselfhttps://t.co/5gNas9Iz9b pic.twitter.com/hZ9YnOZDMN
According to the New York Times, the dispute also concerns FIFA’s apprehension about the usage of its brand name going beyond just the narrow confines of a video game, with EA’s potential future interests for its title including “highlights of actual games, arena video game tournaments and digital products like NFTs.”
EA has already publicly acknowledged this tussle, with a post on its official site that reads as follows:
As we look ahead, we’re also exploring the idea of renaming our global EA SPORTS football games. This means we’re reviewing our naming rights agreement with FIFA, which is separate from all our other official partnerships and licenses across the football world.
The first game in EA’s long-running series was launched in 1993, and every edition since then has included ‘FIFA’ in the title, with the word becoming easy shorthand for the game that has made around $20 billion over the past two decades. A potential name change could be a little disorientating for long-time fans, and has provoked speculation about what the new title could possibly be.
You might think that EA would use a professional footballer to front their new series, in the way that James Madden and Tiger Woods were featured for the developer’s NFL games and golf games respectively, but in fact a copyright has already been registered for the rather clunky title of ‘EA Sports FC’.
EA wouldn’t be the only video game publisher to change the name of its long-running football series; Konami did the same thing this year, relaunching Pro Evolution Soccer as ‘eFootball‘ and making it free-to-play. However, that new title was accompanied by game-breaking glitches that spoiled the experience; whatever happens to EA’s football franchise now, good gameplay will surely be the key to winning over the fans.
Leave a Reply