The iconic FIFA football series created by EA Sports could be set for a shock name change.
The company revealed it’s canvassing a rebrand of the hugely popular game despite the FIFA series showing no signs of slowing down, with FIFA 22 drawing than 9 million players globally.
Despite the game going from strength to strength, a review of the naming rights agreement with FIFA is behind the plan.
The move would be a huge blow to the world game’s governing body, with the lucrative agreement netting the organisation more than A$140m a year.
EA Sports has been making FIFA every year since 1993 with the first game made for the Sega Megadrive before making its way onto PlayStation, Xbox and other devices. It’s understood a similar move by the company’s rival Konami brought the idea into focus.
Konami renamed its Pro Evolution Soccer series as eFootball, although the game struggled in recent times, which forced the company into overhauling the series.
EA Sports addressed the unexpected move via statement: “Through years of building our global franchise, we also know that authenticity is essential to the experience.
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“That’s why we focus so much energy on the collective strength of over 300 individual licensed partners that give us access to 17,000+ athletes across 700+ teams, in 100 stadiums and over 30 leagues around the world.
“We continually invest in the partnerships and licenses that are most meaningful to players, and because of that, our game is the only place you can authentically play in the iconic UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, CONMEBOL Libertadores, Premier League, Bundesliga, and LaLiga Santander, among many others.
“The breadth of our partnerships and our ecosystem of licensed content will enable us to continue to bring unrivalled authenticity in our EA SPORTS football games, now and for many years to come.
“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 future of football is very big and very bright. Our priority is to ensure we have every opportunity to continue delivering the world’s greatest interactive football experiences.”
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