For almost thirty years, the EA Sports FIFA series has been one of the most popular franchises in the world of sports gaming. Association football's worldwide appeal has led to the franchise becoming a mainstay in EA Sports' annual line-up, with EA even claiming that FIFA is the best-selling game series in the world with over 200 million players. However, recent reports suggest that EA Sports and FIFA will soon be parting ways with the international football organization looking at other avenues for their video game partnership.

The situation of the long-running agreement between FIFA 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.

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FIFA released an official statement on the future of the organization's video game ventures on Friday, sounding optimistic about the future 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, FIFA 22. 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 FIFA 22'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 2010'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 future 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.

FIFA 22 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and Stadia.

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Source: PCGamer