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The Fédération Internationale de Football Association, which you probably know better as FIFA, has recently become a thorn in EA's side. It all started a few days ago when the developer released a statement saying that it might change the name of the FIFA series due to an issue with the naming rights contract. It's now all come to a head as which hints against EA's current monopoly over football video games.
While the blog post is titled 'FIFA set to widen gaming and esports portfolio', and doesn't mention EA even once, it talks about the association's role in gaming and esports following a "comprehensive and strategic assessment of the gaming and interactive entertainment market". Basically, FIFA execs sat down in a room and decided that more money can be made if EA doesn't hold all exclusive the naming rights.
"FIFA will adopt a new commercial positioning in gaming and eSports to ensure that it is best placed to make decisions that benefit all football stakeholders," said the statement. "FIFA is ജbullish and excited about the future in gaming and eSports for football, and it is clear that this needs to be a space that is occupied by more than one party contr🗹olling all rights."
The association will be collaborating various players (not those ones) to leverage the FIFA brand in the most efficient manner. Aꦡll of this sounds like corpo lingo suggesting that the association has realised that the gaming industry is b✤ooming, and that it can earn more money via multiple avenues, rather than putting all its eggs in the EA basket.
Just how exactly FIFA will do this is still unclear, but the two entities have been going at it for a while now. It all started with a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:trademark filing by EA for 'EA Sports FC', suggesting that 'FIFA' might soon no longer be part of the football sim's name. An agreement was later reached with FIFPRO, the global professional football players' union, so EA could continue using th🐼e names 🍸and likenesses of the players. Finally, EA released a statement saying that it was 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:reviewing the naming rights agreements with F�🌃�IFA, who asked for over $1 billion for the rights for a period of four years; double of that of th💫e current agreement.
FIFA seems to have grand plans for its brand in the gaming industry, but until we know what that is, it just looks like the two companies are just havin🔯g a pissing contest.