FIFA Establishing Newer Games With Its New Partners

FIFA is football’s global governing body and ruler. And for around three decades, FIFA has had an agreement with EA Sports, allowing the latter to release the iconic FIFA football video games. But, after a disagreement over fees, the relationship between FIFA and EA Sports is over, and now the former plans to press ahead with new games of its own with new partners.

The FIFA football series from EA Sports rose to prominence via the licensing agreement with the sports governing body, as it allowed likenesses of clubs, competitions and players to be used as part of what was an exclusive deal. No other gaming outfit had access to these perks, so nobody could compete with EA Sports releases. But now it’s a case of all bets being off, with EA Sports pressing ahead with EA Sports FC later this year.

Talking of bets, there has always been a fruitful relationship with the gambling sector in terms of themed online slots – including football. This has been a natural partnership, considering the majority of its audience is already familiar with sports betting, especially during international tournaments and national leagues. It’s why so many believe that football is the most popular sport on the planet, because of its unrivalled reach.

Considering the above, the pull of football, and the fact that FIFA oversees the sport, the organisation is in a great position to establish newer games with fresh partners and relationships. However, it is unlikely to consider working exclusively with a new video game producer at this stage unless the numbers were right, which they weren’t towards the end of the partnership with EA Sports.

It’s also unclear whether FIFA would look to challenge the dominance of the EA Sports name in the sector, with decades at the top and the trusted name when it comes to football sims, especially because of the renowned Ultimate Team game mode, which is why the FIFA game series’ popularity has skyrocketed since circa 2009.

One area that FIFA could explore, and there are suggestions this is already the case, is competitions that fall under its banner, such as the World Cup and Women’s World Cup. In tandem with smaller studios, FIFA could begin producing titles for tournaments such as these with dedicated content for the competition. It’s an approach brought to market in the past by EA Sports, which proved popular.

The end goal for FIFA will be to recreate the FIFA football series with a new partner or partners. They have all the rights to player likenesses and so on, which has always been vital for gamers. But EA Sports have managed to strike up their own deals privately, so it would be a case of going head to head with the Canada-based gaming outfit. Therefore, a lot could depend on the success of EA Sports FC and whether it gets a thumbs up from longtime players or flops and opens the door for FIFA to step in.