California [US], May 12 (HornbillTV): The partnership between EA and FIFA, one of the most successful commercial relationships in sports ends after almost three decades.

Electronic Arts (EA) said on May 10 that it was ending partnership with FIFA after months of tense negotiations between EA and FIFA ended without an agreement to extend a partnership.

EA’s current contract with FIFA was set to expire after the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in Qatar from November 21 to December 18, 2022, with the world football governing body seeking increased revenue, and EA pushing to expand the FIFA brand into new areas such as NFTs and highlights of real games.

FIFA was seeking at least double the USD 150 million it gets from its biggest commercial partner, EA sports, adding that there were different expectations of what should be included in a new agreement.

EA Sports will rename their popular FIFA game series to ‘EA Sports FC’ from 2023 after a failed negotiation to extend the partnership with FIFA.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson said, “We’re thankful for our many years of great partnership with FIFA”. “The future of global football is very bright, and fandom around the world has never been stronger. We have an incredible opportunity to put EA Sports FC at the heart of the sport and to bring even more innovative and authentic experiences to the growing football audience”, he added.

EA’s partnership with FIFA dates back to 1993’s FIFA International Soccer, which has been followed by annual releases every year as well as occasional spinoffs like FIFA Street. The only game series with a comparable unbroken annual streak of releases is EA’s Madden NFL franchise, which started in 1988 and will retain branding despite John Madden’s death late last year.

A break with EA Sports and the loss of its nine-figure licensing payments represent a risk for Infantino, FIFA President, who announced last month that he would run for a third term as president, and promised larger handouts to the 211 soccer federations that vote in the election.

For now, FIFA’s focus is on Qatar World Cup which is the same for EA Sports, with EA CEO Andrew Wilson promising the last release of FIFA – the game – in September. He also said he hoped it would not be the last World Cup in an EA Sports-produced game, offering an olive branch by insisting a separate deal with FIFA still could be made.

“We’d love to continue to represent the World Cup through the game”, he said.