In the latest news surrounding EA and FIFA’s licensing deal, statements from EA Sports hint at the end of an era for football video games. EA CEO Andrew Wilson claims that the company’s partnership with FIFA limits its plans for their football games. Will FIFA 23 be the end of it all?
An anonymous source approached VideoGamesChronicle with information about what went down in an internal meeting with Andrew Wilson. Harsh words came from Wilson as he told staff, “FIFA is just the name on the box.”
“What we get from FIFA in a non-World Cup year is the four letters on the front of the box.”
Wilson believes that the video game franchise is not achieving its full potential because of FIFA’s organization. EA Sports’ CEO also added that they have “worked really hard to try and make FIFA understand what we need for the future”, but FIFA allegedly limited their creative freedom.
Wilson stressed that EA’s football games would benefit more without FIFA’s hindrances throughout the meeting. But because they have to abide by FIFA’s terms, Wilson believes that player experience and quality are being sacrificed.
“Our FIFA license has actually precluded us from doing a lot of this stuff. Again, FIFA is just the name on the box, but they’ve precluded our ability to be able to branch into the areas that players want.”
According to Wilson, he had a conversation with FIFA president Gianni Infantino about these concerns. He told Infantino, “it’s really about our ability to deliver games and experiences that our fans want, in a timely fashion.”
Wilson is not confident that EA and FIFA will agree about the franchise’s future. Despite this, Wilson believes that EA will overcome this obstacle and move their football games in the direction they want.
EA and FIFA are prepared if the companies will sever ties.
Wilson assured that they will “rebrand our game and take control of this global football ecosystem that we’re going to build, ironically we’ll probably generate more revenue, and have more fans, and have more engagement over time.”
EA and FIFA released separate statements about what the future holds for the video game franchise. EA released a statement last October telling players they are “reviewing our naming rights agreement with FIFA.”
FIFA released its own statement the following month. FIFA hints that they are open to negotiations with other video game developers. With this, FIFA 23 may be the last football game from EA Sports using the FIFA name.
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What do you think will be the future of EA Sports and FIFA? Let us know how you feel in the comments below. For more content, stay with us, here at Spiel Times.
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