EA Sports has recently announced a brand change in their interactive soccer juggernaut FIFA. In this announcement, they note that they are proud of the community that they have cultivated over the last thirty years of FIFA games, however, EA Sports’ future in soccer video games will go under the new title EA Sports FC. The first game in this new era of EA soccer titles will come out in July of 2023, as EA expresses their belief that it can eventually measure up to the FIFA titles that had been such a success for the last three decades. Now, EA has officially revealed the new logo and branding for EA Sports FC.
As for the context of why this name change happened, according to Fastcompany, there have been some disagreements with the licensing costs between EA and FIFA over the last year or so, with FIFA asking for reported $1 billion to continue using the FIFA name. EA, saying no to this deal, has had to change the licensing of the game to not include FIFA as their namesake. This is a problem that EA has addressed, seeing as a large portion of their branding and marketing has been done in tandem with the FIFA brand as a whole. This partnership has been very lucrative for both companies, as by 2021, Statistica notes that the FIFA video game made over $1.6 billion in Ultimate Team card sales alone. Without this tying factor, EA will have to build this new brand from the ground up, only able to use the support of the previous brand’s success.
EA has been very forthcoming about the potential concerns fans might have about the future of their soccer franchise. In their announcement of the new franchise name, Cam Weber, the Executive Vice President and Group GM at EA states:
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. Our unique licensing portfolio of more than 19,000+ players, 700+ teams, 100+ stadiums and 30 leagues that we’ve continued to invest in for decades will still be there, uniquely in EA SPORTS FC. That includes exclusive partnerships with the Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga, Serie A, the MLS – and more to come.
With this statement, it seems as though they will still have access to all of the elements that made the FIFA franchise as popular as it has been. As far as licensing disputes go, the name seems to be the primary thing affected, as EA still has access to all of the teams, players and modes that has made FIFA the juggernaut of soccer gaming that it is. Fans will get their first glimpse if this is actually true in July of 2023, when the first game under the name EA Sports FC comes out.