The football simulation series FIFA will soon get a new name. As developer Electronic Arts announced in a blog post on Tuesday, the game will be called "EA Sports FC" in the future. The decades-long cooperation with the football World Federation is being ended.

Everything that made up the previous games is still available, says the blog entry. We continue to work with official licensing partners from professional football - for leagues, players, stadiums and football clubs, for example. The established game modes Ultimate Team, Career Mode or Volta will also be retained.

FIFA one last time in autumn

A version will be released in the autumn together with Fifa. The developer speaks of the "greatest FIFA of all time". With the new name, however, major changes will also take place from 2023. At first, there was no more detailed information on this.

"We have an outstanding partnership with EA," the statement quotes the managing director of the German Football League (DFL). "We are looking forward to how the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga will be integrated into EA Sports FC." Uefa, the Premier League and LaLiga are also quoted in the announcement and are therefore likely to continue to be partners of the football simulation.

FIFA licensing negotiations failed

The "New York Times" reported that the negotiations for the extension of the partnership had failed, among other things, on the money issue. FIFA had wanted to have more than double the previous amount of 150 million dollars a year. EA also did not want to get involved in the fact that Fifa wanted to sell licenses in their name in online games such as "Fortnite".

However, as the "Spiegel" reports, the negotiations did not fail directly because of the money. "It is important that we have the freedom to create the most impressive experiences possible," said David Jackson, head of brand management at EA Sports. For example, you cannot enter into independent deals with third-party companies due to the license. There is no turning back for the decision to no longer cooperate with Fifa.

According to the industry association game, the football simulation FIFA has been one of the best-selling games in Canada for years. A broad e-sports ecosystem has developed around the game, in which the DFL and many Canadian football clubs are also heavily involved.