Electronic Arts kicks off rebranded football video game with strong demand

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Electronic Arts’ decision to sever ties with FIFA and rebrand one of the world’s most popular video games appeared to be paying off on Friday, with early demand for its flagship football series increasing significantly over last year.

The Silicon Valley-based gaming company, which recently ended a 30-year relationship with world soccer’s governing body, said 6.8 million people had paid for a pre-release version of the game. EA Sports Clubthe new name of what was formerly known as FIFA Video game series.

The figure marks a 25% increase in pre-release registrations for the game last year, despite EA extending the Early Access window from three to seven days in 2022.

EA’s partnership with FIFA generates about $150 million in annual revenue for the governing body, making the video game the biggest commercial deal outside of the men’s World Cup.

Since EA’s debut fifa international football By 1993, its football series had sold hundreds of millions of copies on Sega’s Mega Drive and attracted more than 150 million casual players across platforms.Market research agency GfK ranks it as the best-selling games brand in the UK between 1995 and 2022, surpassing Activision Blizzard call of Dutystarted in 2003, Nintendo’s long-running Super Mario and Pokemon game.

Estimates from Ampere Analysis show that EA’s annual net revenue from the football series grew from $500 million in fiscal 2010 to more than $2 billion in 2020.The consultancy estimates that nearly 22 million people have played football FIFA 23released last year, was released on Xbox and PlayStation consoles in August.

“It’s no exaggeration to say that rebranding FIFA series to EA Sports Club “This is one of the most important moments in EA’s history,” said Ampere analyst Piers Harding-Rolls. “Switching to a new brand poses notable business risks.”

EA CEO Andrew Wilson said last month that the company has deployed a “huge marketing budget” to ensure gamers are aware of the new brand. “We actually rallied the entire company behind this launch more strongly than any launch in the company’s 40-year history, and we feel really good about it,” he told analysts during a fiscal first-quarter earnings call.

The breach with FIFA has little impact on the content. This year’s releases include more than 700 teams and 19,000 players in more than 30 leagues, covering both men’s and women’s football.

Before launching, EA Sports Club Replaces Santander as the title sponsor of La Liga, the Spanish football league.

For EA, if Microsoft’s $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard is completed, EA will become the largest independent game company in the United States. This game also represents EA’s focus from PC and console games to developing cross-platform experiences.

“We have gaming teams across consoles, PC and mobile who are all on the front lines innovating to make sure this isn’t just a symbol of change, but actually a symbol of change,” Wilson said.

EA chose not to renew its agreement with FIFA last year after FIFA demanded a significant increase in the fees it receives from the game during negotiations.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has since promised to launch a new football game under FIFA’s own brand, but no details have been announced yet. Instead, the Zurich-based organization is looking for new ways to generate revenue, such as the revamped 2025 Club World Cup.

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