EA Claims That FIFA Is Rejecting Its Football Games
Ah, FIFA is my favourite game, where you can hit a ball with your foot. In October last year, it was reported that EA had considered dropping the FIFA name from future football games.
The New York Times reported at the time that this was due to licensing costs. FIFA had requested EA to pay twice the amount it currently pays for the name. They would have to pay $1 billion every four years just to use the four letters on the box’s front.
It seems that the two companies are likely to end their relationship. Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA, said anonymously to VGC, that he thinks the company would be better off terminating their relationship with FIFA. The license has been “an obstacle”.
He stated that the FIFA license had actually hindered the franchise’s growth. “Our players want more cultural and marketing brands that are relevant to their markets. They also want deeper integration in the game […] brands such as Nike. We are unable to do this because FIFA has a relationship with Adidas.
He explained that EA is unable to include the content they desire in their games due to FIFA licensing. “Our players tell us that they want more modes of gameplay, other things than 11v11, and different types of gameplay.
He said that FIFA has been fighting to recognize the kinds of things they want to create. They claim their licence only covers certain categories. Our FIFA license has actually prevented us from doing much of this stuff.
FIFA is just a name on the box. But they have prevented us from being able to expand into areas that players desire.
“Our players want us to move fast: they want you guys to do things quickly.” We need to have the freedom to be creative, innovative, and experiment in the market.
If I were to ask you, I would say that consistently releasing new games every year is “doing things fast”. But hey, what can I do? It seems more likely that FIFA games will be branded “EA Sports FC”, as was trademarked last. It sounds like the games will only get better if it happens. However, it wouldn’t be the end of an era.
