In an internal company recollection last November, EA CEO Andrew Wilson reportedly revealed a lot about how the FIFA brand licensing has prevented the company from expanding its soccer game development. Let's see what Wilson has to say!
Wilson said: "It may be a bit biased, I don't think the FIFA brand makes much sense as a video game brand, it only makes sense as a football governing body name. We don't take it for granted, and we try not to be arrogant. We work hard to try to make FIFA understand what we need in the future. ”
"Basically, in non-World Cup years, all we get from FIFA is the four letters printed on the front of the box, but the vast majority of people in the world don't see that game box because they now buy a digital version of the game."
Wilson continues: "Our players told us they wanted to have more game modes, as well as different things and different types of gameplay besides 11vs11. And I want to tell you that it's a battle for FIFA to recognize the kind of stuff we want to create, because they say that licensing can only cover specific categories. ”
"Our players want us to expand more broadly into the digital ecosystem, and our fans tell us they want us to get involved in the space. Our FIFA brand licensing actually prevents us from doing this kind of thing. Again, FIFA is just the name on the box, but it prevents us from expanding into areas that other players want. ”
FIFA reportedly requires a $2.5 billion licensing fee per World Cup over the next decade, which is twice as much as EA currently pays. As early as last November, David Jackson, EA's FIFA brand manager, described the relationship between EA and FIFA as "terrible" and said the company was unsure whether it would continue to work with it.