On Friday, FIFA 23, the last football game in a series that has captivated millions of fans for 30 years, will be released. This will end one of the most popular video game series ever.
Electronic Arts (EA), a company from the US, and FIFA, an international organisation for football, talked for months about the licencing deal that has been in place since the game’s first release in 1993.
But in May, FIFA said it would be looking for other partners, and EA said its game would be called “EA Sports FC” starting in 2019.
EA has added women’s club teams to the final version for the first time, but they are only from England and France. This is a few years after the first women players were added.
The game’s cover features French World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe and Australian superstar Sam Kerr, who plays in the English league.
“It is – and remains – one of the most popular franchises in all of gaming,” said Tom Wijman of Newzoo
FIFA reportedly raised the licencing fee, which it wanted from $150 million a year to $250 million, bringing the total for the proposed four-year contract to $1 billion. This caused the deal to fall through.
EA will lose the right to use the FIFA name and tournaments like the World Cup, but it will still be able to use player names and non-FIFA games like the English Premier League, which is a significant advantage over its competitors.
