FIFA may soon follow its eternal rival PES, now known as “eFootball”, by renaming itself. Currently, EA’s famous football franchise uses the instantly recognizable name “FIFA”. To make this happen, the company is borrowing rights from the eponymous organization which also runs world football proceedings.
However, a name change could take place soon as EA weighs the trade-off between keeping the familiar name for football matches and paying big bucks to FIFA for the rights to use the name and logo.
If EA executives opted for a new name next time around, fans would have seen two major football game franchises adopt new identities in the span of two years.
According to EA’s latest report Press release, the company is reviewing the current deal with FIFA. The report states, “As we look to the future, we are also exploring the idea of renaming our EA SPORTS Global Football Games.”
Additionally, the statement clarified: “This means that we are revising our naming rights agreement with FIFA, which is separate from all of our other official football partnerships and licenses.”
How the possible makeover could affect the FIFA series?
What EA’s statement means is that even if it drops the FIFA moniker, it would still take over the many licenses and rights it currently owns. These licenses allow FIFA games to have real players, clubs, tournaments, etc. Its latest version, FIFA 22, contains over 17,000 athletes, over 700 teams, 100 stadiums and over 30 leagues (including the latest addition ISL).
While a rebranding would save EA a lot of money, it would also mean the loss of an established identity that began with 1993’s FIFA International Soccer. So the repercussions of a potential name change , whether positive or negative, would certainly be significant.
In addition to this, the report also pointed out that 9.1 million players have already started their journey in this year’s FIFA. Moreover, he revealed that players have played 460 million matches in FIFA 22 since its release.
Most of this fan fervor could be attributed to FIFA Ultimate Team, the game’s hit multiplayer mode. If you’re looking for the best players for your FUT squad, check out these rankings.
