Following months of reports that Electronic Arts was heavily considering dropping the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) name after 30 years of partnership on the FIFA videogame series, it appears the company will reportedly rebrand one of gaming biggest franchises.
According to journalist Jeff Grubb, via his Giant Bomb show Grubbsnax, sources confirmed that the renaming will be finalized at some point in the near future using the previously rumored name EA Sports Football Club, or EA Sports FC for short.
“EA Sports Football Club, EA Sports FC, that’s the name of the game,” Grubb said, as transcribed by VGC. “They are ready to move on, they have another name lined up.”
Trademarks for EA Sports FC popped up in Europe before initial reports of EA’s potential split with FIFA began circulating last October. And, with similar titles like EA Sports College Football and EA Sports PGA Tour already in the works using the company brand, it seemed to show the discussion was moving forward.
Originally, reports noted that this decision was being discussed due to FIFA having a purported asking price of $1 billion for every four years to license its properties, with additional details adding FIFA may be demanding EA double its payment for the license to $2.5 billion over the next decade.
EA’s 10-year contract with FIFA is set to end after the Qatar World Cup in November, meaning this year’s FIFA title could be the final game that would see both companies work together on the franchise. VGC has previously noted that EA will release FIFA 23 along with two World Cup tournament modes to coincide with the FIFA World Cup this year.
Considering EA CEO Andrew Wilson reportedly labeled the long-standing brand partnership “an impediment” internally, it isn’t surprising to see that company has gone from thinking about the split to this reported move to actually do it.
“At the end of the day, I don’t know if we’re going to get there,” Wilson said. “And ironically, if we don’t, and we’re able to rebrand our game and take control of this global football ecosystem that we’re going to build, ironically we’ll probably generate more revenue, and have more fans, and have more engagement over time. Because we’ll be able to work with more partners, we’ll be able to build more modes of play, we’ll be able to expand more deeply and broadly into the digital ecosystems around the fabric of football, and more than anything we’ll be able to move really, really fast.”
With the approaching Summer gaming season, which is when EA usually announces its new sports titles for the year, fans will likely hear more information about rebranding, either officially or through further reporting.
