Soccer video game ‘close’ to $850m deal

The video game series that’s been known as FIFA for thirty years is ditching the name while it fights to secure the rights to the English Premier League.

EA Sports, the publisher behind the wildly popular FIFA video game series is reportedly “close” to signing a new license deal as its agreement with Fédération internationale de football association (FIFA) comes to an end.

According to Sky Sports News, EA Sports is close to securing a new deal with the English Premier League that’s said to be worth about $850 million AUD. The Premier League is one of the world’s most successful soccer leagues, both competitively and commercially.

The deal will reportedly last for six years, and would allow EA Sports to exclusively feature licensed Premier League material in its video games, barring competitors like Konami’s eFootball from using the content.

EA Sports and FIFA had a 30-year-long partnership for the development of licensed video games, but announced last year an end to the licensing agreement, with reports saying FIFA wanted $1.7 billion from EA to renew. The game series previously known as FIFA will instead be known as EA Sports FC (football club) going forward.

EA’s FIFA series has been running as a licensed product for thirty years. Picture: EA Sports

Leaked internal discussions around the decision revealed that EA found FIFA’s request to be unacceptable, with one leading figure at EA reportedly saying that all FIFA provided was “four letters on a box”.

FIFA has said it plans to create its own soccer game, or license the game out to other studios to use. The FIFA name has already been licensed out to multiple “web3” games, with multiple licensed blockchain games offering NFTs, or digital tokens, that can be sold on to other players.

Most of the relevant licenses for leagues, teams, and players are held by EA in separate agreements, meaning that the video game series should be able to continue largely without change going forward. An exclusivity agreement with the Premier League would offer it somewhat of an edge over competitors, however.

FIFA 23 will be the last soccer game from EA to carry the FIFA branding. Picture: EA Sports

EA recently revealed that its indie label would be ditching indie games, in a strange move that would see the company’s EA Originals branding applied to big budget games. The branding has been used exclusively to publish small, independent games, but is now expanding out to big hitters.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.