For nearly 30 years, FIFA and EA Sports have been working together to provide more than 150 million fans with a football game experience (EA Sports) ™ FIFA) 。 But now it seems that after accumulating more than $20 million in sales over the past 20 years, this long-term partnership has been cut off EA and FIFA will go their separate ways because they decided not to extend their partnership. The game will continue to be released in the name of EA Sports FC from next year.
The initial arrangement between the two entities was to allow the cooperative relationship to last until the end of this year's World Cup in Qatar. However, according to the New York Times, after negotiations, the partnership will be extended until next summer's women's World Cup. EA Sports plans to make these last moments related to FIFA unforgettable through more functions, game modes, world cup contents, etc.
Except that the world cup and other FIFA related events will be excluded from the game in the future, fans don't need to expect any change. Due to a separate license agreement, fans will still have access to most clubs and stars during this period.
The end of the cooperation is explained in the blog post of EA:
We are committed to meaningful reinvestment in this sport, and we are happy to work with more and more partners to expand to new real experiences and bring joy, tolerance and immersion to the global fan community. I look forward to sharing more details about these plans in the coming months.
In terms of games, EA Sports has guaranteed high standards to fans. During the transition to EA Sports FC, fans will be able to innovate, create and develop. They also said they would provide more information on this change in the summer of 2023.