Electronic Arts has confirmed that it will stop making FIFA-branded football games from next year – instead launching a new EA Sports FC brand.
The video games giant is aiming to deliver ‘the world’s biggest interactive sports experience’ with the move.
It will continue its collaborations with over 300 licensing partners across the sport, with the aim of building the ‘biggest football club’ in the world.
“Our vision for EA Sports FC is to create the largest and most impactful football club in the world, at the epicenter of football fandom,” said Andrew Wilson, ceo of Electronic Arts. “For nearly 30 years, we’ve been building the world’s biggest football community – with hundreds of millions of players, thousands of athlete partners, and hundreds of leagues, federations, and teams. EA Sports FC will be the club for every one of them, and for football fans everywhere.”
EA Sports FC will bring together 300+ individual licensed partners, giving players access to more than 19,000 athletes across 700 teams, in 100 stadiums and over 30 leagues around the world.
Through EA Sports FC, EA will further grow the reach and power of its football licensing portfolio by retaining and expanding the licensed football content, scaling to new experiences and increasing access through more platforms. EA will also build on a foundation of inclusivity and innovate in new areas around both women’s and grassroots football for the global community.
Before this, however, EA is promising to deliver ‘the most expansive FIFA ever’ later this year. Its final FIFA product will include more game modes, features, teams, leagues, players and competition than any previous edition.
Andrew continued: “We’re thankful for our many years of great partnership with FIFA. The future of global football is very bright, and fandom around the world has never been stronger. We have an incredible opportunity to put EA Sports FC at the heart of the sport, and to bring even more innovative and authentic experiences to the growing football audience.”
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