GRcade

twitter.com/ZhugeEX/status/1448314110618312708

EA have been rumoured to be dropping the FIFA branding and it looks like this is why.

So... EA Football 2023 incoming?

So one massive piece-of-shit organisation is having a tiff with another massive piece-of-shit organisation over money. What a shock.

I would laugh my arse off if Konami snagged it off them and rebranded eFootball (Or whatever the strawberry float that atrocity is called) as FIFA. If only because of the confusion it would cause.

How many billions do EA make from FIFA / Ultimate Team / lootboxes?

They make about a billion a year off of just the UT stuff I believe, although that's from a bunch of different games.

https://www.goal.com/en/news/how-much-m ... kz54rtrp68

>1 billion every 4 years
Sooo 250 million a year? What's the significance of 4 years' worth? Either way, seems a bit silly. Would the FIFA series really be at a loss if it rebranded?

While we don’t need to return to the silly period in the late ‘90s when it felt like there was a new football game coming out virtually every month, it would be nice to have more competition in this genre again with more of an even playing field. That all encompassing FIFA license made it impossible for anyone else to really compete.

Saint of Killers wrote:How many billions do EA make from FIFA / Ultimate Team / lootboxes?

Ultimate Team modes now account for almost a third of EA's revenue:

vg247.com wrote:EA revealed... that Ultimate Team made $1.62 billion over the course of fiscal year 2021, which ended in March. This amounted to a whopping 29% of EA's entire net revenue that year ($5.6B)

...and the Ultimate Team income has grown massively over the past six years:

twitter.com/ZhugeEX/status/1397650874378465281

This huge income has enabled EA to gain a virtual monopoly of the console football game market. Many younger gamers have grown up regarding FIFA as being the only football game in town; PES was played by a generally older crowd and few other (no other?) football games have really challenged EA's dominance for many years. With players of the Ultimate Team modes unable to carry over players/data to the next annual release, EA sees fresh income on this huge scale every year.

"EA Sports FC" is - IMHO - a lousy name, but the game is so well known by a massive number of players that it doesn't really matter what it is called. Who knows, maybe EA will instead pursue the UEFA brand in the future. They're unlikely to see any serious challengers in the market because FIFA and UEFA have set a bar for branding cost that most other publishers would baulk at; especially for a new, untested game.

I'm not sure how easy they'd find a rebrand. I know it happened with Football Manager almost 20 years ago, but I feel like that was a much more clued up crowd. I bet a huge percentage of the FIFA userbase doesn't buy any other games, won't visit gaming websites or anything, and will just wonder why FIFA 24 is not on Amazon or in Tesco.

Is this why we haven't gotten another Mario Strikers?

Not that I’m one to defend EA, but that price for a licence is absurd, and FIFA are over-valuing themselves. EA should call FIFA’s bluff, because nobody else is going pay what FIFA are asking. And EA rebranded their golf series, when Tiger Woods went into the rough.

They should relaunch it as Viva Football. Or Fever.

They should pay nothing, then relaunch the series as "Fee:FA".

GrinWithoutaKat wrote:I bet a huge percentage of the FIFA userbase doesn't buy any other games, won't visit gaming websites or anything, and will just wonder why FIFA 24 is not on Amazon or in Tesco.

If any of them survived the Jif to Cif malarkey, they'll be on board for Fee:FA 23.

It would cost a darn lot less to pay for a load of TV and internet Adds to promote a new name with an add saying ''EA made Fifa for years we will continue to make the same great football games but now they will be called EA Soccer'' or whatever other name they can come up with , a one up cost for that beats shed loads every 4 years.

Don't forget part of it was also Fifa wanting to clamp down on what EA could monetise outside of the core game so that Fifa could monetise it themselves.

The dispute is not just about money, though. The talks have also stalled because FIFA and EA cannot agree what the gamer's exclusive rights should include.

FIFA would prefer to limit EA's exclusivity to the narrow parameters around use in a soccer game, most likely in an effort to seek new revenue streams for the rights it would retain. EA Sports, meanwhile, contends the company should be allowed to explore other ventures within its FIFA video game ecosystem, including highlights of actual games, arena video game tournaments and digital products like NFTs.

Both are corrupt shitheaps so I don't care either way.

SillySprout wrote:It's not worth the money Fifa are asking for. If EA retain the rights to the majority of leagues, teams and players, it will be the go to football game, regardless of what name they stick on it. I don't actually think losing the Fifa licence will do EA much harm, there is virtually no competition.

They would be better off spending the money on aquiring the licence for leagues they don't currently have in the game. They may actually make more sales too as a result of it.

eaFootball

FIFA

GrinWithoutaKat wrote:I'm not sure how easy they'd find a rebrand. I know it happened with Football Manager almost 20 years ago, but I feel like that was a much more clued up crowd. I bet a huge percentage of the FIFA userbase doesn't buy any other games, won't visit gaming websites or anything, and will just wonder why FIFA 24 is not on Amazon or in Tesco.

This 100%