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EA launches the final installment of popular football franchise FIFA

Date: September 30, 2022 Pooja Sharma Pooja Sharma
EA launches the final installment of popular football franchise FIFA 
With the release of FIFA 23 on 30th September, American video game maker Electronic Arts (EA) will reportedly bring the 30-year-long football video game franchise to an end.



As per reports, EA had been negotiating upon licensing agreement with global football organization, Federation Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA, which has been supporting the franchise since the first edition came out in 1993.



However, the negotiations came to an end after it was confirmed in May that FIFA will look for other partners, while EA stated that it will rebrand the series as EA Sports FC starting next year.



For the game’s final version under its banner, EA has also included women’s club teams for the very first time in FIFA’s history, although the teams are only limited to that of France and England. The new addition supposedly comes several years after women players were first introduced.



The game’s cover will feature Australian Chelsea star Sam Kerr and French World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe.



Although the decoupling is risky for FIFA as well as EA and does not guarantee success for either of their new ventures, analysts believe that EA is in a better position after having spent 30 years developing and marketing the franchise.



Last year, EA reported that it sold over 325 million copies of FIFA over the three decades and generated over $20 billion in sales.



For gamers, it appears that the corporate fallout has not had much of an impact, as a majority are just focused on playing the latest version of the game. In fact, many professional eSports players also lined up to livestream their first attempt at FIFA 23.



Reviewers were impressed with the improvement in the game’s graphics from the previous edition and also praised the new features EA has added.



News of the deal termination between the two entities arrived after the association raised FIFA’s licensing fee from the initial $150 million per year to $250 million, which brough the total mooted four-year contract to more than $1 billion.



While the videogame maker will lose the rights to use the FIFA name as well as competitions like World Cup, it can still use player names as well as non-FIFA competitions, like the EPL, which is a major advantage over sits competitors.



Last year EA saw a $5.6 billion turnover, becoming one of the largest game makers yet not taken over by any of the four tech giants, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, and Tencent, in the space.



Source credit: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/fifa-game-football-ea-sports-2973136

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Pooja Sharma

Pursuing her professional career as a content writer for over two years now, Pooja Sharma is endowed with a post-graduate degree in English Literature. The articles that she writes are a balanced blend of her ever-growing love of language and the technical expertise that she has gained over the years. Currently Pooja pens insightful articles for Newsorigins and numerous other websites, covering subjects such as business, finance, and technology.