FIFA: EA Sports to review its licensing agreement and may change the title of its "FIFA" video game

"As we look ahead, we're also exploring the idea of renaming our global EA Sports football games. This means we're reviewing our naming rights agreement with FIFA, which is separate from all our other official partnerships and licenses across the football world," said Cam Weber, CEO of EA Sports on 07/10/2021.

The publisher of the Electronic Arts group has been using the name and assets of FIFA for its "FIFA" video game since 1993. The current contract between the world governing body and the American publisher is due to expire at the end of 2022. The two parties also announced that they have expanded their esports competition programme to 70 countries on 29/09/2021, "a programme that is expected to attract tens of millions of players and spectators."

EA Sports has licensing rights to more than 300 partners, 17,000 athletes in more than 700 teams, 100 stadiums and more than 30 leagues. In 2020, the football video game FIFA 21 was the best-selling game in 16 out of 19 European countries surveyed by the German market research company GfK Entertainment (results published on 21/01/2021).