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EA Sports to end FIFA video-game partnership after three decades

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Agence France-Presse

<p>NEW YORK - The wildly popular FIFA video-game series will be rebranded EA Sports FC next year, its publisher Electronic Arts said on Tuesday, ending a three-decade relationship with football&#x27;s governing body.</p><p>Launched in 1993, a generation of millions of football fans and gamers across the globe grew up playing the game and it became a huge money-spinner.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/10/08/21/electronic-arts-considering-renaming-fifa-game">Electronic Arts considering renaming FIFA game</a></li></ul><p>But &quot;months of tense negotiations&quot; between California-based Electronic Arts (EA) and governing body FIFA failed to end in an agreement to extend the partnership, The New York Times reported.</p><p>FIFA reportedly wanted the $150 million it gets annually from EA to be increased to $250 million or more. </p><p>The game has more than 150 million player accounts, according to EA, and The New York Times said it had generated more than $20 billion in sales over the past two decades.</p><p>No major changes to how the game plays are anticipated and EA said that it has retained relationships with other leagues and associations, such as UEFA, the Premier League and Spain&#x27;s La Liga.</p><p>However, FIFA events such as the World Cup will not feature.</p><p>&quot;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,&quot; said EA chief executive Andrew Wilson.</p><p>&quot;For nearly 30 years, we&#x27;ve been building the world&#x27;s biggest football community with hundreds of millions of players, thousands of athlete partners, and hundreds of leagues, federations, and teams. </p><p>&quot;EA Sports FC will be the club for every one of them, and for football fans everywhere.&quot;</p><p>FIFA swiftly responded by saying that it will launch &quot;new football video games developed with third-party studios and publishers&quot;.</p><p>&quot;I can assure you that the only authentic, real game that has the FIFA name will be the best one available for gamers and football fans,&quot; said its president Gianni Infantino.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1890603" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Launched in 1993, a generation of millions of football fans and gamers across the globe grew up playing the game and it became a huge money-spinner.