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2K Purchases FIFA Rights, FIFA 2K25 In-Bound

Gabriel Stanford-Reisinger 0 Comments

It sounds like 2K has acquired the rights to develop games under FIFA branding following the landmark split from EA last year. Plenty of people since the split were speculating what studio would take up such a prodigious mantel.

Shared by MohPlay on X, the rumor isn’t that shocking, as no doubt the laundry list of licensed sports games 2K has put out makes it a prime candidate to develop FIFA games, but it’s worth pointing out that this is no officially confirmed.

Additionally, skepticism is healthy here as supposedly FIFA 2K25 is in-bound this year in time for FIFA World Cup 26, which is a mere month away. We don’t have to tell you this is quick turnaround, though, it’s all too possible it didn’t just get greenlit and this is just when the partnership is getting “confirmed” for retailers.

What do you think? Are you up to pick up FIFA 2K25? Let us know below!

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PlayStation Could’ve Had FIFA

Gabriel Stanford-Reisinger 0 Comments

While 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!

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EA Sports FC 24 Pulls Over 11M Players In Debut Week

Gabriel Stanford-Reisinger 0 Comments

Despite slashing FIFA from its name, EA Sports FC 24 has managed to keep a strong player base, at least so far. This sports title marks the beginning of EA’s general sports games following its decision not to extend its long-running partnership with FIFA.

According to GamesIndustry.biz, EA’s soccer title reached 11.3 million since its debut, with its mobile variant also finding great success 10 days after launch. The game’s seen a 20% increase in new players, according to EA Sports President Cam Weber, who also declared it’s building up the “biggest football community” through EA Sports FC and this isn’t the end of it.

“In addition to welcoming back millions of our longtime players, new players in FC 24 are up nearly 20% year over year, showing the excitement of football fans everywhere to join the Club. We are building the world’s biggest football community through EA Sports FC, and we’re just getting started.”

What do you think? Have you been enjoying EA Sports FC 2024? Let us know below!

 

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EA Sports Delists FIFA Games Ahead Of EA Sports FC Debut

Gabriel Stanford-Reisinger 0 Comments

EA’s sports games branch — EA Sports — has delisted all previous soccer games holding the FIFA name ahead of its EA Sports FC branding making its debut. This new soccer series is the result of the big game dev cutting its partnership with FIFA after a whopping 30 years.

As spotted by MauroNL (via VGC), it appears all FIFA games, starting from 14 all the way to 23, have been pulled from all major storefronts. Even last year’s FIFA 23 has been pulled and can no longer be purchased. If you try to access any of the now-delisted games on PSN, it just redirects you to pre-order FC.

If you absolutely must have that FIFA dopamine, you can still play 22 and 23 on EA Play.

What do you think? Is it disappointing to see so many games go the way of the wind? Do you even care considering it’s just more or less the same game every year? Let us know below!

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Austrian Court Demands Sony Refund Customer’s FIFA Ultimate Team Packs

Gabriel Stanford-Reisinger 0 Comments
FIFA Ultimate Team

The ongoing situation between FIFA Ultimate Team packs and its association with gambling has apparently come to a momentary conclusion in an Austrian court, which has concluded that the packs are, indeed, gambling. The complaint forces PlayStation to refund the plaintiff, who purchased €300 worth of these packs through the PlayStation Store in a single night.

TheGamer reports that the court has also decided that FIFA packs will be treated as “games of chance that require a license.” This hasn’t been put into practice yet, but this one change means EA, who directly profits from the FIFA packs the most, will be forced to seek out a gambling license and effectively admit that these microtransactions are gambling.

EA already attempted to mitigate the issues that befell FIFA Ultimate Team by telling Eurogamer that kids shouldn’t be purchasing these packs and highlighting some of the good the studio’s done to stamp out gambling addiction. Even so, it’s unlikely we’ll hear any more about this any time soon, and odds are we won’t hear anything from FIFA itself as the company has distanced itself from EA.

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EA Doesn’t Fear Player Loss Amid Possible FIFA Branding Drop

Gabriel Stanford-Reisinger 0 Comments
FIFA

EA seems to not be worried about player loss when they move to rebrand the FIFA franchise. EA already issued a patent for EA Sports F.C., which could be the new branding they plan on implementing.

Recently, it was revealed that FIFA was no longer interested in one company “controlling and exploiting” the rights. As part of this, they altered what EA was meant to pay for the use of their branding. The new price point was set to $1 billion, which didn’t quite sit right with the developer.

EA executive, David Jackson, in an article from Financial Times (via PSLS), expressed that they aren’t sure if they will continue to use FIFA branding.

“We are not certain that we will move forward with FIFA as a naming rights partner.”

He also expressed that even though this name is engrained in many players’ heads, EA’s sports franchise has lots of players and that he doesn’t see that changing any time soon.

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