It's no surprise that EA and FIFA haven't seen eye to eye over these past several months. FIFA wanted to charge EA a cool $1 billion (USD) every four years to continue using the FIFA license. EA balked at the idea, citing the cost and creative restrictions as the reason, and decided to part ways from FIFA going forward.
Today, EA officially announced that after the release of FIFA 23, the studio will officially change the name of their annual soccer game franchise to EA Sports FC. More information about EA Sports FC's first outing will be revealed in July 2023. EA says that this change will "bring fresh opportunity - to innovate, create, and evolve."
Cam Weber at EA Sports says that despite dropping the FIFA license, EA Sports FC will still keep all of FIFA's league, clubs, and player licenses. This includes over 19,000 players, over 700 teams, over 100 stadiums, and over 30 leagues. EA says that they have been supported in this endeavor by various football (soccer) organizations such as the English Premiere League, LaLiga, Bundesliga, UEFA, and more.
What does the loss of the FIFA license really mean then? In speaking with the BBC, EA Sports vice president David Jackson says there will only be two things that players will notice: 1. The name is different and 2, the special "World Cup" content that came out every four years.
FIFA, for their part, says that they will work with third-party developers to create new soccer games. Some non-simulation focused titles are apparently already in development and will be released later in 2022. There is no word if FIFA is charging these other, unnamed development studios the $1 billion fee they wanted to charge EA.
