Journalist Jeff Grubb seems to have claimed on his Giant Bomb show Grubbsnax, that sources have confirmed to him that FIFA will soon be rebranding its name to ”EA Sports Football Club.”
We reported a few weeks ago that EA CEO Andrew Wilson has made comments reported that the FIFA name holds back the best-selling football franchise, so this news doesn’t exactly come as a shock.
Here are some comments made from Jeff Grubb:
“EA Sports Football Club, EA Sports FC, that’s the name of the game,” he said, before stating that the move comes after much-documented tension between FIFA themselves and EA.
“I saw trademarks for it, I thought that could be just a feature like an online mode, [but] I asked around about it [and] that’s it, that’s the name,” Grubb said.
They are ready to move on, they have another name lined up.” Grubb speculated that we “should have seen a trailer by now”, he went on to say. “We should hear about it here pretty soon”.
It is understood that EA’s ten-year deal with FIFA is due to expire after November’s Qatar World Cup and so this years FIFA 23 could well be the last of its name before the change.
It is also speculated that EA is planning to include FIFA World Cup tournaments in its next game, a feature that the EA CEO has always said they wanted to implement but FIFA bodies wouldn’t allow them to do so.
Andrew Wilson has not exactly been quiet on just why he wants to part ways with FIFA, stating that the licence has been ”an impediment” to the future of the series.
“Our players want us to expand into the digital ecosystem more broadly… our fans are telling us they want us to go and participate in that space,” he said.
“Our FIFA licence has actually precluded us from doing a lot of this stuff. Again, FIFA is just the name on the box, but they’ve precluded our ability to be able to branch into the areas that players want.”
EA has yet to make an announcement on the matter, but hopefully, we will find out the truth soon.
