The soccer video game franchise FIFA might have a different name in the future, EA revealed today in a press release.
EA is reviewing the naming rights agreement with FIFA, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, and is exploring the idea of renaming the EA Sports soccer games. The agreement with FIFA is separate from all of EA’s official partnerships and licenses across the soccer world.
If EA changes the name of its soccer franchise, it’d be following in the footsteps of Konami, who rebranded the famous Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) franchise to eFootball this year. The FIFA series has existed since 1993 and has been published annually by EA since 1997. The soccer series also includes special World Cup editions and some Street versions.
FIFA 22 launched worldwide on Oct. 1 and is already a success from a commercial standpoint. More than 9 million people have played FIFA 22 so far and there are 7.6 million squads created in Ultimate Team, the game’s most popular mode. The game is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
“The future of football is very big and very bright,” EA said in the press release. “Our priority is to ensure we have every opportunity to continue delivering the world’s greatest interactive football experiences. Thank you again for your support and feedback on this year’s game.”