Electronic Arts announced today that it is withdrawing from Fifa, and by 2023, its football game will be played in a new EA Sports brand.
According to EA, the move will enable it to work with more than 300 partners across the global soccer world to “deliver the world’s largest interactive sports experience” to the growing community.
EA Sports FC will provide EA with a platform to “innovate, create and develop new experiences,” the company said. In addition, it will bring more areas of the sport to life and “leverage the collective power of the more than 150 million players in the company’s global football game” to reach hundreds of millions of new fans over the next few years.
“Our vision for EA Sports FC is to create the world’s largest and most influential football club at the heart of football fans,” said EA CEO Andrew Wilson. “For nearly 30 years, we’ve been building the largest football community in the world – with hundreds of millions of players, thousands of athlete partners, and hundreds of leagues, federations and teams. EA Sports FC will be each of them A club and a club for fans around the world.”
EA Sports FC will bring the power of more than 300 individual licensed partners, giving players access to more than 19,000 athletes across 700 teams, 100 stadiums and more than 30 leagues around the world. EA plans to continue to expand the product portfolio by retaining and expanding licensed football content, expanding new experiences, and increasing access through more platforms. EA also pledged to build on its “foundation of inclusivity” and “innovation in new areas” in women’s and grassroots football.
The launch of EA Sports FC won’t affect any current games, which means you can expect FIFA 23 sometime this fall. The final FIFA product promises to include “more game modes, features, teams, leagues, players and competitions” than any previous iteration.
“We are grateful for the great partnership we have had with FIFA over the years,” said Wilson. “The future of global football is very bright and fans around the world have never been stronger.” We have a unique opportunity to place EA Sports FC in this position. at the heart of the sport and bring more innovative and authentic experiences to the growing football audience. “
More information on EA Sports FC will be available in summer 2023.
The change isn’t a surprise, considering EA signed up EA Sports FC in October.
The trademark was filed after EA indicated it could drop its FIFA brand following a fracture between the two agencies.
Back in February, company CEO Andrew Wilson reportedly said at a meeting in November 2021 that the FIFA license has been a “hurdle” for the company to develop the franchise. Wilson reportedly said that while the company “has had a good relationship with FIFA for over 30 years,” it was “a struggle” to get FIFA to acknowledge the type of things the company wanted to create.
