FIFA: The CEO of Electronic Arts acknowledges that it is “an impediment” to the growth of the saga, added to the large costs of the license. EA is prepared to drop the FIFA name on its soccer video games if necessary. Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts, has recognized in an internal meeting held in November (via VGC) that the license is becoming “an impediment”. The comment, although transferred only to members of its executive, brings even closer the possibility of seeing a football EA Sports without the budding name.
So much so that, during that meeting, the manager played down the importance of the branding of the product and referred to the name that is now the protagonist with the following statement: “There are four letters in a box.” The North American publisher believes that limiting itself to FIFA is “an impediment” to the growth of the saga, currently focused on traditional eleven against eleven, and there are voices that hope to approach “wider digital ecosystems”, according to anonymous sources consulted by VGC .
How much does the name “FIFA” really cost for EA? How are the negotiations progressing?
The fall of the FIFA name in EA Sports soccer video games is a possibility that has been around for months. Last October, EA acknowledged exploring a name change to the video games we now know as FIFA; they then registered EA Sports FC.
The main problem with the license is its price, its dizzying cost. FIFA asks EA for more than 1,000 million dollars for the license over four years. Currently, the amount moves around 600 million dollars. In this way, we would be talking about 250 million dollars a year or 2,500 million dollars to retain the name for the next decade.
