Don’t call it “Fifa” anymore! Renamed “EA Sports FC”, the 2024 edition of the famous video game opens a new chapter in its history on Friday, with a controversy linked to the greater place given to women’s football. Among the new features most discussed on social networks, it is the possibility of bringing together players on the same virtual field in the very popular “Ultimate Team” mode which is causing the most reaction.
To the point of provoking controversy: Ada Hegerberg, 2018 Golden Ball, questioned the American publisher Electronic Arts (EA) on her Instagram account on Tuesday, after receiving insults from a player complaining about a bug affecting the Norwegian star in the game. EA reacted immediately by announcing on early for some players. “It is not a question of morality, nor a question of cause” but “a faithful representation of the real world of football”, defended David Jackson, vice-president of football, to AFP. the EA SPORTS FC brand, about the rise of women’s football in the game.
Undisputed leader of the genre with some 150 million players last year, thanks in particular to its licenses (real names of players, teams, stadiums, competitions, etc.), the series has been developed by Electronic Arts since 1993. But EA and the International Football Federation (FIFA) announced in May that they had ended their collaboration due to financial demands deemed too high by the sporting body. The managers of the American publisher have decided to abandon this partnership and change the name of the game, even though it has generated, in almost 30 years, more than 20 billion dollars in turnover, according to New York Times.
“When we were called Fifa, we were unable to express our potential due to the limits of the rights we held,” explains David Jackson, who wants to evolve the series into “a global football platform powered by video games. Now that we have this name, everything rests on us,” underlines the manager, insisting on the fact that the new game has been designed to remain familiar to regulars while offering players new experiences. “The Fifa license no longer exists and the game will not feature the World Cup but, apart from that, the functionalities are practically unchanged, or even improved,” Mat Piscatella, video game analyst at Circana, told AFP. He expects “FC 24” to be among the top 10 best-selling video games this year in the United States.
EA has still retained its agreements with all other leagues and federations which allow it to offer more than 19,000 existing players, 30 championships and 700 official teams. Another more consensual new feature: players will be able to receive the prestigious Golden Ball in the “Career” mode, thanks to a partnership with France Football magazine, during an event where Eric Cantona presents the distinction. Enough to allow “FC 24” to remain at the top of the ranking of best-selling games in Europe? “Customers may be waiting to make sure that only the name changes. What we are certain of is that at the end of the year, we will remain at a level of sales equivalent to that of the last editions, anticipates to AFP Charlotte Massicault, director of multimedia products at the distributor Fnac- Darty.
