NEW YORK, United States — The wildly popular
FIFA video-game series will be
rebranded EA Sports FC next year, its publisher Electronic Arts said on
Tuesday, ending a three-decade relationship with football’s governing body.
اضافة اعلان
Launched in 1993, a
generation of millions of football fans and gamers across the globe grew up
playing the game and it became a huge money-spinner.
But “months of
tense negotiations” between California-based
Electronic Arts (EA) and governing
body FIFA failed to end in an agreement to extend the partnership, the New York
Times reported.
FIFA reportedly
wanted the $150 million it gets annually from EA to be increased to $250
million or more.
The game has more
than 150 million player accounts, according to EA, and the New York Times said
it had generated more than $20 billion in sales over the past two decades.
No major changes to
how the game plays are anticipated and EA said that it has retained
relationships with other leagues and associations, such as UEFA, the Premier
League, and Spain’s La Liga.
However, FIFA
events such as the
World Cup will not feature.
“Our vision for EA
Sports FC is to create the largest and most impactful football club in the
world, at the epicenter of football fandom,” said EA chief executive Andrew
Wilson.
“For nearly 30
years, we’ve been building the world’s biggest football community with hundreds
of millions of players, thousands of athlete partners, and hundreds of leagues,
federations, and teams.
“EA Sports FC will
be the club for every one of them, and for football fans everywhere.”
FIFA swiftly
responded by saying that it will launch “new football video games developed
with third-party studios and publishers”.
“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,”
said its president
Gianni Infantino.
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