EA Considering Renaming FIFA Over $1 Billion Fee Every 4 Years - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 14 October 2021 / 3,015 Views
It has come to light that EA Sports is considering to change the name of the popular Football gaming franchise, FIFA, according to EA Sports Group GM Cam Weber last week. The company has even recently filed for trademarks for EA Sports FC with UK’s Intellectual Property Office and the European Union Intellectual Property Office.
The reason for the name change is over the licensing fee for the FIFA naming rights, according to a report from The New York Times.
FIFA is looking to more than double the price of the licensing fee of what EA Sports pays. Sources familiar with matter say FIFA is looking to charge more than $1 billion per four year World Cup cycle or $2.5 billion per decade.
EA Sports and FIFA talks have also stalled as the two have been unable to agree on what the gamer's exclusive rights should include. FIFA wants EA Sports to exclusively produce Football (Soccer) games, while EA Sports wants to explore other ventures within the FIFA video games.
A decision is likely to be made by the end of 2021.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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I'd bet this is more of a negotiation tactic than a likely actual change. Obviously, there is some number at which it doesn't make sense for EA to license the FIFA name. But, that would be a major value crusher for the franchise.
It would be nice if EA’s stranglehold over FIFA and the NFL were broken.
A ringing endorsement of PES/eFootball, if ever there was one.
crazy that the names are more important than the game or gameplay.
I mean EA has all the power here. Who else is going to pay anywhere near that amount of money to FIFA? They'll either get FIFA to go back on wanting to charge double the previous fee or they won't get any money at all. $250 Million a year is an insane amount.
Agreed. Also, if EA doesn't have the FIFA license, they are guaranteeing a new competitor in the soccer / football space. They license all of the players and team names and things separately. So, they'd be greatly decreasing the value of all of those licenses if they knowingly allow a new, major competitor into the genre.
I can definitely see 2K putting in a major bid for the FIFA rights. Especially now that they know Konami royally screwed the pooch on PES/eFootball lol. I can definitely see Sony giving it a try, but despite the popularity, there's always a lot of negativity towards FIFA since everyone attributes it to the Ultimate Team mode. Sony would have to put a lot of work into making it a more consumer friendly experience, which I can see them doing.
MLB: The Show does have some microtransactions, but there's never any negative press towards the series despite also being an annual release.
Somebody will pay somewhere. If nothing else, Take-Two would snap it up. Or (sigh) Tencent.
“FIFA wants EA Sports to exclusively produce Football (Soccer) games, while EA Sports wants to explore other ventures within the FIFA video games.”
Wasn’t sure what was meant by this. Did it mean FIFA wanted to block the Street Football mode, or that EA was looking to put in stuff like Fustal or Beach Football?
But that isn't how it's worded. "...while EA Sports wants to explore other ventures within the FIFA video games."
On the first sentence, I do not think FIFA so petty (well, I'd hope) as to make sure EA only make games for their sport, I'm not even sure how Madden or NHL games would affect FIFA games like that due to audiences being vastly different but on this latter bit I quoted, it sounds like EA Sports see FIFA as a brand to expland, when FIFA just want them to make football games, and don't want 'FIFA' just slapped on anything.
Dropping the FIFA brand would damage both parties.
I think FIFA is just negotiating to get better deal with EA (considering how much the series is profitable they could afford it). I just don't see any publisher risking 1$B upfront on a new venture without even a dedicated dev team and before production and marketing costs. Plus there is now way any publisher could set a up a production capable of competing the current EA fifa team in less than a year, it would take at the very least a couple of years before they could make any profit. Maybe only MS could afford to take such a risky bet, but it seems exaggerated even for them.
They should change it to FEEFA. I only ask for a few million a year if EA wants to go with that.
Nothing is going to change. As corrupt of an organization as FIFA is, they're not that stupid to kill this golden goose. And EA definitively knows most of its sales come from the license and the player's names, so they can't just rebrand themselves as EA's Football 2022 (and even less letting someone else access to the brand).
Name change maybe is a look what we can do but not actually intending on doing it
might be a spinoff game.. they make 10x that from ultimate team
I think it was obviously about money but, how familar are the "sources familiar with the matter" to assume that 1 billion a year every 4 year is the actual amount.
Fifi games make more than that. Probably worth having the naming rights.
Because the name Fifi will go to another brand which will than create competition and possibly over shadow EA's own game. Halving revenue.
Because people know the name Fifa and will flock to it. If EA let the name go, they will also let go of the monopoly. Which is a good thing for the industry but a bad move for EA. There is a real good reason why the Fifa name is expensive.
You understand the majority who buy Fifa games aren't the usual gamers. No different to the Maddan name. Its all about Brand power. Weather you agree or not. If EA drops the Fifa name, another company will pick it up, and call their soccer game Fifa and will attract the Fifa fans.
And if another company buys the Fifa name and the player and club rights?
Depends on the deals made. For example, many Sim Car racers can license out car brands and models to various games. I cannot see it being any different when it comes to other sport titles.
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