EA and Fifa partnership to end with popular video-game to go by new name next year
EA Sports FC will be the new name of Fifa from summer 2023.
Fifa, the world-famous football video game, is to go by a new name from 2023.
It comes as video-game maker Electronic Arts (EA) and Fifa, the global footballing body, have ended their agreement that has been in place since 1993's Fifa International Soccer.
EA has announced that from the summer of 2023, Fifa (the game) will be titled EA Sports FC.
There will be one final Fifa game - Fifa 23 - that is expected to be released later this year.
Over the past 30 years, Fifa has gone on to become one of the highest-selling and most loved video games of all time, selling hundreds of millions of copies.
Players of the game should not be impacted too much, with many of the licensing agreements for the game still in place. It still holds licenses for the Champions League, Europa League, CONMEBOL Libertadores, Premier League, Bundesliga, LaLiga, Serie A, and MLS amoung others.
In a statement, EA said players will still have access to "more than 300 individual licensed partners" including "more than 19,000 athletes across 700 teams, in 100 stadiums and over 30 leagues around the world".
Andrew Wilson, CEO at EA, praised the partnership with Fifa.
"We’re thankful for our many years of great partnership with Fifa. The future of global football is very bright, and fandom around the world has never been stronger."
He added that EA Sports FC will "bring even more innovative and authentic experiences to the growing football audience".
Under the new brand, the game "will bring more areas of the sport to life", EA has said.
Mr Wilson said the hope for EA Sports FC is "to create the largest and most impactful football club in the world, at the epicentre of football fandom".
"For nearly 30 years, we’ve been building the world’s biggest football community - with hundreds of millions of players, thousands of athlete partners, and hundreds of leagues, federations, and teams. EA Sports FC will be the club for every one of them, and for football fans everywhere."
The final Fifa game, which is due out in autumn, will include "more game modes, features, teams, leagues, players, and competitions than any previous edition".
EA has said that the introduction of the new brand will not impact any current football games made by the company.
The video game was the first football game to have an official license from Fifa.
Over the years, a host of global football stars have been the face of the game by being on the cover.
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney have all featured with Kylian Mbappe being the current face of the franchise.
