FIFA 23 will be the last ever game as EA Sports FC takes over instead

Just as expected, this year’s FIFA game will be the last one from EA as they rename their game and lose the licence for the World Cup.

EA had already made it pretty obvious this was coming but now they’ve confirmed it: they’re giving up the FIFA licence and this year’s FIFA 23 will be the last game to use its name.

That means next year’s football game will be called EA Sports FC (possibly with a number at the end of it) and in all probability not much will change other than that, at least at first.

Despite what you might imagine the licence isn’t needed for the real players or teams, or things like the proper kits and stadia. EA get all that from over 300 separate licences from individual companies and the only thing they rely on from FIFA is their name and the World Cup.

Since it’s the World Cup this year that will be in FIFA 23, which is expected to be released sometime this September. That gives EA four years to work out what to do about it the next time it comes around, which is no doubt why they’ve waited till now to make the switch.

The change has come because FIFA were asking for double the amount of money for the licence, as well as placing additional restrictions on how EA could use the name.

That’s according to EA anyway – we’ve never really got FIFA’s side of the story – but supposedly FIFA has been preventing EA from implementing a lot of ideas they wanted to introduce, including modes other than 11 vs. 11, game tournaments, NFTs, and rumours of a free-to-play option.

Despite a lengthy blog on the subject there’s currently no indication of exactly how EA Sports FC will differ from the games that came before it, just confirmation that everyone except FIFA is on board for the new game.

‘Our vision for EA Sports FC is to create the largest and most impactful football club in the world, at the epicentre of football fandom,’ said EA CEO Andrew Wilson.

‘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.’