Gabriel Stanford-ReisingerWhile sales and its player base are golden for now, EA Sports FC will always be remembered as the result of a split between FIFA and EA. Well, it turns out that in the ’90s, another major player could’ve made the sports titles — PlayStation.
According to EA’s VP of European marketing at the time, Tom Stone, who spoke with TimeExtension, PlayStation was tapped behind the company’s back about a licensing deal. The Japanese console maker’s European president, Chris Deering, told the EA exec about the deal, reassuring him that no deal would take place unless EA and ISL’s talks fell through.
It sorta feels like PlayStation didn’t want FIFA because EA was already poised to be the rights partner. Taking FIFA would make it look similar to the likes of Nintendo, which pulled the rug from under it and announced a partnership with Philips right before its own partnership was to be announced. This led to Sony breaking into the console gaming market, so really it all worked out.
Perhaps with EA and FIFA going their separate ways, PlayStation could step in and make a deal.
What do you think? What studio do you think would ink a deal with FIFA? Let us know below!
