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The iconic game developers are making moves following the end of its deal with FIFA.
According to reports, EA Sports is in the process of finalizing a £488 million deal with the Premier League as the software company looks to move on from its partnership with world governing body FIFA.
A report by Sky Sports on Friday, claims that all 20 football clubs from the English Premier League have already received information about the deal, which amounts to roughly $588.4 million USD and is reportedly set to cover a six-year period of time.
This deal with Premier League isn't the first big-money transaction EA has faced as it looks to restructure its worldwide football gaming empire.
Back in August, the software company entered into a deal with top Spanish football division La Liga in a deal worth more than $30 million.
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A month prior to the La Liga announcement, EA had announced the return of Serie A giants Juventus Football Club to the franchise after the latter had previously entered into a contract that sold its video game exclusivity rights to Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer back in 2019.
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Why did EA Sports and FIFA split?
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According to The New York Times in October 2021, FIFA had started discussions with EA in the prior two years on renewing these rights towards an exclusivity deal but with several caveats that made negotiations difficult.
Among FIFA's requests was increasing the exclusive license fee to $1 billion over each four-year period between FIFA World Cups, and limiting the scope of this exclusivity to association football simulation games.
However, while EA wanted to expand the branding into new video game ventures such as esports using the game, an area that FIFA wanted to either keep to themselves or license to other developers to expand their own revenues, FIFA issued a statement following this report that stated they had reached an impasse with EA on the negotiations.
FIFA's position was that it has "a duty to support its 211 member associations to fully capitalise on the inherent opportunities that have been emerging over the recent years. As part of this strategy, FIFA also commits to continuing to organise skill-based eSports tournaments under the umbrella of the recently launched FIFAe competition structure and consumer brand."
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To that end, FIFA believed it was necessary that any license agreement "must involve more than one party controlling and exploiting all rights".
EA then considered abandoning the FIFA name would have little impact on the player experience since the league and team licenses would be unaffected, prompting the company to trademark EA Sports F.C, as a potential replacement name for the series with the last collaboration being the 2022 release FIFA 23.
EA Sports FC
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EA Sports FC is the brand new football series coming from EA, with FIFA 23 being the last entry in that franchise.
FIFA 23 is the last installment of the partnership between EA and FIFA and its replacement won't arrive until late in 2023, according to reports.
However, EA has already shared details surrounding some of its licenses.
EA has already announced that EA Sports FC will contain more than 30 leagues, featuring over 700 teams.
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It will also have at least 19,000 players, and 100 stadiums.
Competitions confirmed so far include the Champions League, Premier League (England), Bundesliga (Germany), and La Liga (Spain).
‘We’re incredibly excited to build the future of global football with all of you, and will be happy to share more info on EA SPORTS FC in Summer 2023. The future of the sport is very big and bright, and football fandom is reaching across every corner of the world. Global football has been part of EA SPORTS for nearly thirty years - and today, we’re ensuring that it will be for decades to come.’ Cam Weber, EVP, Group GM EA SPORTS & Racing said.
Eight individual clubs have confirmed their involvement in EA Sports FC, despite the distant release date.
Real Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Toronto FC and Austin FC have all shared tweets committing themselves to the series, and promising more info to come in July 2023.
FIFA on the other hand has already released a statement to confirm that the FIFA series will continue, under the helm of a developer that is not EA.
The new FIFA series will also switch to a non-exclusive model - which means different development teams working on an assortment of titles under the FIFA banner.
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