Update 2:30pm PT: During today's earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson offered a bit more context on why the publisher made the decision to part ways with the FIFA license, emphasizing the ability of EA to work with even more partners and create more focused football experiences for speciifc internaitonal markets:
"When we think about the future of football right now, we really made this decision on the basis of being able to deliver experiences that our players wanted," he said. "They told us they wanted more modalities of play. They told us they wanted to see more commercial partners in the game that are representative and authentic to the broad global world of football. They're telling us they want us to move beyond just the core experience and really build out this digital football experience. And they're telling us they want us to move really, really fast."
Later on the call, he added:
"The important thing to understand though is that as you travel around the world and you meet with players who really are deeply engaged with our game, for a player in the UK, the most important thing to them is the Premiere League. For a player in Germany the most important thing to them is the Bundesliga. In Spain it's La Liga, and so on and so forth as you go around the world. What we're focused on right now is building very unique experiences for each of those fans in each of those markets, and what you've seen today is many of our partners come out in support of our ability to do this for our fans."
Original story: After almost 30 years, EA Sports and FIFA are parting ways and EA will chart a new future under the name, EA Sports FC. Aside from the name change, the lack of a licensing deal means there could be some changes to the tried-and-true FIFA formula.
In an interview with the BBC, EA Sports vice president David Jackson says that the deal with FIFA wasn’t just for the name, but included a set of licensing restrictions that EA no longer has to abide by. This could free the company to explore more interactive and fan-focused gameplay content.
“Under the licensing conventions that we had agreed with Fifa 10 years ago, there were some restrictions that weren’t going to allow us to be able to build those experiences for players,” Jackson says.
Those experiences include both watching and creating content, possibly similar to how players can watch screenings of trailers in Fortnite and create custom modes and maps.
The deal with FIFA is set to end partially because of money. It was previously reported that FIFA upped the price for its license to over $1 billion per four-year World Cup cycle and Jackson admits money was a factor in the decision to rename the franchise, though isn’t the full reason behind the split.
“Money plays a critical role in most negotiations, but the reason we are doing this is to create the very best experiences we can for both players and partners. As part of that you consider whether or not your investment in one place is better or worse than an investment in another.”
While EA will lose the rights to the FIFA name, the company has signed up 19.000 athletes, 700 teams, 100 stadiums, and over 30 leagues including the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, and UEFA, so players can still expect real team names and players.
There will be no World Cup content every four years, but the main leagues and players will remain. EA is set to have a financial earnings report later today where we’ll likely hear more on EA’s plans for EA Sports FC.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.