The situation of the long-running agreement between FC 24 Coins from Ludwighench's blog

The situation of the long-running agreement between FC 24 Coins and EA Sports has been a topic of discussion for weeks, with recent news suggesting that EA will look to rebrand its annual sports franchise. The sports game juggernaut recently filed a trademark for "EA Sports FC" and reports from executives at EA suggest that the breakdown in the agreement may be due to FIFA 's high asking price for its licensing. Now, the sports game juggernaut is looking to entertain its options for other publishers to carry the iconic branding.

 FIFA released an official statement on the FC 24 Ultimate Teamure of the organization's video game ventures on Friday, sounding optimistic about the FC 24 Ultimate Teamure of FIFA in the video game market. The company is reportedly engaged in negotiations with "developers, investors, and analysts" within the industry looking to expand the company's presence within the world of gaming. The company looks to leverage the iconic status the FIFA brand has built for itself within the gaming world and tie together the world of FIFA esports with the organization's live competitions, particularly mentioning the FIFA World Cup.

The news of the rift between EA Sports and FIFA comes just weeks after the release of EA's newest annual title, FC 24. The newest update to the annual football franchise featured a slew of changes to many areas of the game with a focus on minor updates to FC 24 's gameplay like the highly-touted Hypermotion Technology. A split between EA Sports and FIFA would mean that "EA Sports FC" would be EA Sports' first flagship title since 2022's EA Sports MMA to not feature the branding of a major sports league.

The EA Sports FIFA franchise has dominated the association football gaming market for years. While other franchises like Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer, recently renamed to eFootball, and Football Manager have carved out their own niche in the market, neither of them have come close to the widespread success of the FIFA franchise. With the FC 24 Ultimate Teamure of FIFA 's presence in the gaming industry up in the air, the rift between EA and FIFA should provide an opportunity for some of the lesser players to make their case as the organization's next developer.

Electronic Arts has had firm control over FIFA football brand for a very long time. The first FIFA game was released in 1993. titled FIFA International Soccer, and was published by EA Sports. In the over 25 years since, EA has kept the FIFA license locked down, and in the process has made the best-selling sports video game franchise of all time. All empires come to an end, however, and the FIFA franchise is facing a reckoning. A new statement from FIFA itself makes it clear that the exclusivity for EA is likely coming to an end.

In recent weeks, EA has made it publically known that its negotiations for continued exclusivity of the FIFA brand are not going well. FIFA reportedly asked for over $1 billion across four years for exclusive access to the FIFA brand, said to be more than twice the current $150 million-per-year deal. With EA and FIFA 's 10-year deal ending after 2022's World Cup in Qatar, a decision on the new deal needs to come soon, but if anything the two parties seem further apart than ever.

Capturing the state of current negotiations, FIFA issued a public statement declaring its intent to "widen" its portfolio of video games and esports efforts. FIFA labeled itself as "bullish" regarding these FC 24 Ultimate Teamure prospects, implying it's already aggressively moving forward with its plans. If that wasn't stated clearly enough, FIFA adds that it's "clear that this needs to be a space that is occupied by more than one party controlling all rights." In other words, FIFA wants to end the exclusivity of its branding.

As for what that means for EA's FIFA franchise, the impact likely isn't as severe as some fans may fear. The most dramatic change that would go through if FIFA and EA don't agree on a new deal would be the name of the series itself. It would no longer be EA's FIFA, but instead something new. One possible alternative name being floated by EA is EA Sports cheap Fut 24 Coins. As for player names and likenesses, EA has already made a long-term deal with FIFPro, which handles licensing for over 65.000 football players worldwide.