After a partnership that lasted 30 years .. FIFA and game developer “EA” in a playoff

FIFA has ended the partnership with EA Sports, a game development company, after 30 years in which the most popular game on Earth and screens was at the forefront of video games.

EA’s FIFA game series is one of the most popular gaming brands in the world, with FIFA Ultimate Team making billions for the game publisher every year. The company said last year that FIFA had sold more than 325 million copies over its three decades and had reportedly generated more than $20 billion in sales. FIFA was reportedly seeking $1 billion over the course of a new 4-year cycle to renew its license to the popular soccer game, a fee well above the EA’s developer stake.

The US playmaker and FIFA have spent months negotiating the licensing agreement that has underpinned the game since its first release in 1993. But they confirmed the split in May when FIFA said it would look for other partners, and EA said it would rename its game EA Sports FC from next year.

Since the split, FIFA has said it will release new football video games developed with third-party studios and publishers, providing more options for football and gaming enthusiasts, in the run-up to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand 2023.

According to a FIFA statement, a number of new games are already in production and will be launched during the third quarter of this year. The first is a gaming experience specifically designed to showcase the biggest event on Earth (the Qatar World Cup 2022) that will provide new interactive experiences for fans around the world. Following this initial reveal, FIFA will be releasing more games and virtual experiences around this year’s World Cup. Additional projects are also being discussed with publishers ahead of next year’s Women’s World Cup.

“FIFA has been and remains one of the most popular franchises of all games,” said Tom Wegman of Newzoo, a company that analyzes data about the gaming industry. The separation is risky for both EA and FIFA, with no guarantee of the success of their new ventures

EA has already announced that its new version of EA Sports FC – its first single-player soccer game after 29 years with FIFA – will feature more than 30 tournaments and feature at least 19,000 players across more than 700 teams.