New Delhi: FIFA franchise, the popular football simulator series, will cease to exist as we know it. EA Sports’ annual release, which is also one of the most popular sports games around the world, will now be rebranded as EA Sports FC. The Redwood City, California, US-based game developer and publisher confirmed that it is ending a three-decade partnership with the official governing body of world football. Alongside, Nike Football announced that it would be partnering with EA Sports FC in the future, with a reveal set for next year.
As per an official statement from EA Sports Executive Vice President Cam Weber, “After nearly 30 years of creating genre-defining interactive football experiences, we will soon begin an exciting new era.
“Next year, EA Sports FC will become the future of football from EA SPORTS. Alongside our 300+ licence partners across the sport, we’re ready to take global football experiences to new heights, on behalf of all football fans around the world.
"Everything you love about our games will be part of EA Sports FC — the same great experiences, modes, leagues, tournaments, clubs, and athletes will be there. Ultimate Team, Career Mode, Pro Clubs, and VOLTA Football will all be there.
"This new independent platform will bring fresh opportunity — to innovate, create, and evolve. This is much more than just a change of symbol — as EA Sports, we’re committed to ensuring EA Sports FC is a symbol of change. [We] look forward to sharing more detail on these plans in the coming months."
Alongside, sportswear giant Nike Football confirmed the news, as it tweeted that it will be partnering with EA Sports FC “to expand the future of the beautiful game.” A proper reveal will be made in July 2023.
FIFA 22 to rebrand as EA Sports FC: What does it mean for gamers?
So, what exactly will change for the gamers? On the face of it, nothing much. EA Sports will still be bringing out its annual football games with all the official club and player licences. However, this time around, there will be no ‘FIFA’ branding on the game titles. World Cup-related content will also be given a miss.
EA Sports Vice President David Jackson said, “In terms of things that they'll miss, players will notice only two things: The name and a World Cup piece of content every four years. Outside of that, very little will change about the things they know and love about the current FIFA products.
“Probably the easiest thing that we could have done would have been to maintain the status quo. FIFA has been an incredibly successful game over time, but there are moments when you need to consider what the future looks like and we feel like building our own brand is the best for us.”
FIFA 23 will be the last EA Sports release with the official ‘FIFA’ branding, set to release later this year. However, there will be no FIFA 24. EA Sports first partnered with FIFA in 1993, and has been publishing the game series ever since.