New York Times reports in a world exclusive the reason behind the name change of the FIFA sports video game series. According to the report by journalist Tariq Panja, the US development house is considering changing the name of the series to EA Sports FC after FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), the international body that governs football sports, has asked $ 2.5 billion to renew the partnership for another ten years.
The request of the football federation is “one billion dollars for each World Cup,” or one billion for every four years, plus half a billion for the last two. The average is $ 250 million a year, compared to $ 150 million paid by EA in the last decade. For FIFA, this is a reasonable request also due to the great success of a franchise capable of grossing more than 20 billion dollars in the last ten years, of which 1.2 billion dollars in 2020 only thanks to the microtransactions of the Ultimate Team mode…
On the other hand, Electronic Arts do not intend to pay nearly double the royalties and believes it does not need the name. The negotiation is currently underway, and it is still possible that the two parties will find an agreement. The contract is due to expire next year, immediately after the Qatar 2022 World Cup conclusion.
Discussion about this post