In October 2021, FIFA, the International Federation of Association Football (or Federation Internationale de Football Association) made a historic announcement. After almost 30 years of partnership, the long-standing licensing deal between EA Sports and FIFA would be coming to an end. This means that FIFA 23 is the last FIFA game as we know it and after the 22/23 season, there will no longer be a single, annual official soccer game with that branding. FIFA will still strike licensing deals with game publishers, but none of these deals will be exclusive.
What will FIFA 24 be called?
So, there will not be a FIFA 24 game. EA Sports has already announced that its next soccer game will be called EA Sports FC, and will launch in July 2023. EA Sports FC won’t be the product of an official FIFA license, but EA Sports does still have over 300 other licensing deals with national soccer associations, leagues, teams, players, and clothing brands. Thus, EA Sports FC will still feel like a representation of real-world soccer, and will likely still play a lot like FIFA. That’s probably as close to an answer as you’ll get — FIFA 24 will be called EA Sports FC.
Back in October 2021, an official announcement said, “FIFA is engaging with various industry players, including developers, investors, and analysts, to build out a long-term view of the gaming, eSports, and interactive entertainment sector,” indicating that there might well be a variety of official FIFA-licensed games next season, but none have been announced yet. Likely candidates to rival EA Sports include Konami, whose ISS, PES, and eFootball brands have long been FIFA’s closest rivals, and 2K Sports, who currently hold licenses for the NBA, the PGA, and the WWE, but have not as yet produced a soccer game. It’ll also be interesting to see if this huge change in the soccer gaming landscape impacts Sports Interactive and Sega’s genre-leading Football Manager series.
