It was last week when publisher Electronic Arts (EA) announced that it has been considering to rename its iconic (and highly lucrative) FIFA franchise. Today, that rebranded FIFA name might have been ousted.
Earlier today, EA was discovered (via VGC) to have filed multiple trademarks for something called EA Sports FC, which may as well be just about anything but could also be what the FIFA franchise will be calling itself from here on since the trademarks were filed around the same time when EA made its intensions clear.
EA already clarified that the potential renaming or rebranding will not impact the game in anyway. FIFA has “official partnerships and licenses across the football world” which in turn cover “over 300 individual licensed partners” for “17,000+ athletes across 700+ teams, in 100 stadiums and over 30 leagues.” That will all remain the same moving forward and as such, the agreement EA has with the football governing bodies has nothing to do with the said licenses.
“The breadth of our partnerships and our ecosystem of licensed content will enable us to continue to bring unrivalled authenticity in our EA Sports football games, now and for many years to come,” EA Sports’ general manager Cam Weber assured last week.
Something interesting to note is that if future FIFA games are going to be called EA Sports FC, it will be the only sports franchises of EA to not include the name of its official association or institute. NBA, NHL, UFC, F1, PGA, and even Madden which was named after hall of famer and commentator John Madden, all contain an official linkage with their respective sport.
The new FIFA 22 was just released a few weeks back. Hence, if the trademarks are indeed what they are being said to be, sports fans can expect EA to announce FIFA 23 as EA Sports FC 23 next year.
Elsewhere, FIFA 23 (or EA Sports FC 23 for that matter) has been rumored to be free to play with cross-play support across all platforms.
