We already knew that EA Sports was considering the possibility of renaming the FIFA game series. According to a report from VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb, the gaming giant has begun to voice its plan to remove the FIFA name more and more loudly. According to Grubb’s sources, EA is making this big move because it no longer wants to “pay a premium” to license the FIFA name. In addition, Grubb claims that FIFA asked EA for $1 billion to keep the ‘FIFA’ nickname.
The next question is what the new name for the FIFA game series will be. According to Grubb, the developer is considering the name ‘EA Sports FC’. This is not a big surprise, as the trademark applications for the name “EA Sports FC” were noticed by VGC in October 2021, shortly before EA Sports announced that it was considering renaming it to FIFA.
Also, FIFA updated its trademark earlier this month with the filing mentioning video games among its products. This may suggest that FIFA may have planned to publish its own game series (or maintain the FIFA series on its own). The application covers everything from industrial oils and greases to insurance, so it is thought the organization wanted to cover areas to prevent anyone from using the name.
At this point, it seems inevitable for EA Sports to drop the FIFA name, and it is not easy to predict how logical this decision is.
Actually, the FIFA game series has gone beyond its name, and as EA has previously stated, the rights to the FIFA name are separate from its other official partnerships and licenses. In other words, separate license agreements can be made with the clubs in the game. This shows that the disappearance of the FIFA name will probably not make a big change in the game content.
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