The FIFA 18 Bundesliga exclusivity deal will mean that the EA Sports soccer series will be keeping Germany’s top football league to itself for another five years, keeping the game from appearing in other soccer games such as Pro Evolution Soccer. This includes FIFA 18, and the four games after it.
The Bundesliga is Germany’s best football league, having the highest average stadium attendance worldwide and being the top league in the country. It is only one of the numerous different international leagues that will be available to play with in FIFA 18 when it comes out, alongside leagues from the United States, Spain, Brazil, France, and the United Kingdom.
Pro Evolution Soccer, the soccer series that’s owned by Konami and is the closest thing that FIFA has to a rival, has been attempting to get a deal with the Bundesliga and a number of other football clubs around the world before FIFA could, but it seems like the Japanese developer has gotten the short end of the stick this time.
The Bundesliga exclusivity deal that the league has with FIFA means that the league won’t be available for Konami or any other developer to use in their own game until somewhere around 2021 or 2022. This means that, so long as the league approves, EA Sports can do whatever they want with the team’s license.
The deal even extends to FIFA 18’s eSports community, where the Germany Virtual Bundesliga and the FIFA Ultimate Team game types can also have the Bundesliga in it. However, there’s hope for both Konami and Sega; Konami can still make use of the in-house football manager in Pro Evolution Soccer in Asia, while SEGA and their Football Manager series can also still use the team.
FIFA 18 wil be releasing on September 29 for the Xbox One, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC
