EA Sports FC Launches Brand as The Post-FIFA Era Begins

The EA Sports FC Launches Brand

The split of longtime partners FIFA and EA Sports is a pivotal moment in sports gaming. However, as they say, the show must go on. On Thursday, 6th April 2023, EA Sports officially kicked off the post-FIFA era with the launch of the EA Sports FC brand. EA Sports FC is the new world football video game by EA Sports.

As per reports, the new game will include 30 leagues, over 700 football teams, over 200 stadiums, and over 19,000 fully licensed players from all over the world. The brand is planned to debut in the coming days before the end of the current (European) football leagues in over 100 matches around the world.

Just like the previous iterations of the game while licensed under FIFA, EA Sports FC also has official partners. These include, the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, WSL, NWSL and CONMEBOL.

EA Sports also released the official branding of EA Sports FC. According to EA.com, this new brand identity is “inspired by the triangles that have been part of EA SPORTS football for the past 30 years, from the isometric polygons that make up our game to the chemistry triangles that exist in Ultimate Team to the player indicator across every match.”

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In a press release, EA Sports FC senior vice president and general manager Nick Wlodyka said, “This is where the story of EA SPORTS FC begins. We’re building on 30 years of leadership and history creating experiences that bring the global football community together, and continuing to take it into a fan-first future.”

“EA SPORTS FC will be a symbol for the sport, a symbol of innovation and change, and we’re energized to show our fans more about the future in July,” Nick continued. There are no details as of yet on when the game will be released. However, as it was announced during the launch, more details will be provided in July.

Why Did EA Sports And FIFA Split?

Since 1993, EA Sports has been an officially licensed partner of world football video games. This is thanks to their partnership with FIFA. In 2022, it was announced that Electronic Arts and FIFA would not be renewing their licensing deal.

FIFA 23 was reported to be the last game released under the EA Sports and FIFA partnership. While the upcoming EA Sports FC will be the 40th different world football video game under EA Sports, it will be the first game developed after the split. So why did the split occur?

According to talkSPORT, the split was caused by the most obvious of reasons – money! EA and FIFA had a very lucrative and mutually beneficial deal going between them. The video game developer paid FIFA $150 million annually for the license.

However, on noticing the soaring profits in the industry, FIFA wanted a cut and decided to at least double the licensing fee! As talkSPORT reports, this was affordable for EA.

However, this license only accounts for the FIFA title associated with the games and their events such as the World Cup. There were no other perks and therefore it did not make sense to make the deal.

What Will Change?

In EA Sport’s new and much-awaited EA Sports FC, it was confirmed that the game would retain its league, player, and stadium naming rights. This includes agreements with UEFA which run’s the Champions League among other European competitions.

The split however does mean that the EA series will cease to be referred to as FIFA. As in FIFA 17, FIFA 13, etc. Instead, it will be known as the less catchy (at least for now) EA Sports FC. EA Sports will also lose access to FIFA-run competitions. This includes the World Cup, beginning with the Women’s World Cup in 2023.

However, it’s FIFA that stands to lose the most from the parting. As Gareth Sutcliffe, a senior analyst in the video games sector at Enders Analysis told New York Times, “EA will continue to motor on: They have got all the technological smarts, the creative implementation of an absolutely fantastic football game — and it really is fantastic. But what do FIFA have? Their name. And then what?”

Plans are underway for FIFA to find a new partner to launch further games. Gianni Infantino in a statement in 2022 said, “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. The FIFA name is the only global, original title.”

talkSport however, identifies that the problem with whoever proves to be FIFA’s new partner is the lack of Premier League licensing can limit what they can do.