Last week, EA shared the surprise news it’s currently “exploring the idea of renaming” its long-running FIFA football series – and we might now know why; a new report claims the football association wants EA to pay “more than double” its current deal to continue using its licence.
EA is apparently keen to explore other avenues using the FIFA licence, such as video game tournaments and digital products like NFTs, while FIFA wants to limit the scope of the deal to pursue new opportunities itself.
While negotiations between FIFA and EA continue, the latter certainly appears to be laying the groundwork to forge ahead without FIFA’s globally recognised licence.
According to the New York Times, the current ten-year agreement between EA and FIFA comes to an end in 2022, and negotiations to extend that deal are due to conclude this year.