The major competitor Pro Evolution Soccer meanwhile has been struggling with entirely different problems. Its latest incarnation called “eFootball” was not well received, despite – or perhaps because of – a completely overhauled concept.
Upon release, eFootball was received so poorly that Konami even issued an apology and promised improvement.
FIFA 22 has just been released, and EA Sports is already looking to the future. They have secured an important partner for the upcoming games in the series with FIFPRO.
EA announced: In a press release, EA Sports stated that they have extended their partnership with “FIFPRO”. It speaks of a “long-term commitment”.
FIFPRO represents professional footballers around the world and is one of the most important licensing partners for EA Sports. The agreement with FIFPRO supports developers in accessing “thousands of player names and graphics,” according to the statement.
The FIFPRO partnership is therefore a crucial factor in allowing authentic football stars to appear in the FIFA games.
“FIFPRO will continue to be a significant partner as we create the next generation of EA SPORTS football experiences for players around the world,” says David Jackson, VP EA Sports Brand. Although FIFA 22 has just celebrated its release, it seems that preparations for future games are already being made.
An interesting aside: It is not explicitly stated, for example, that it is the “next generation of FIFA experiences for players.” This fits in with the discussion that the FIFA series may be considering a name change.
What is certain, however, is that the series will likely retain one of its most important arguments of recent years in the future.
FIFA – The game with real names
Why the partnership is so important: For several years, there has been significant competition between the football series FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer, which also affected the fans of the games.
You surely remember:
- While PES fans often spoke of superior gameplay as an argument for which game was better …
- FIFA fans countered with the argument: “We have the real players.”
Because while FIFA featured the real club names or players, in PES many things had to be settled with fake variants.
- For example, FC Bayern München was called “Record Champions”
- Werder Bremen simply “Weser”
- And instead of Manchester United and Manchester City, one played “Man Red” or “Man Blue”.
Other examples include player names like “Kruger” instead of Ballack, “Roberto Larcos” for Roberto Carlos, or “Pomatski” instead of Podolski.
This aspect of realism has always been important for FIFA players, which EA’s statement reiterates:
Our players regularly remind us that one of the most important aspects of an EA SPORTS player experience is the immersive experience of the game world, which we reinforce by using real leagues, teams, and talents. In this way, we uniquely blur the lines between the physical and digital football worlds.
David Jackson, VP EA Sports Brand
License package with scratches: Despite the importance of real names, FIFA has also had to endure some dents in its large license package.
- Some clubs from the Italian Serie A can no longer be used by FIFA by name. The players are still realistically depicted and also have real names but they play at “Piemonte Calcio” instead of Juventus Turin.
- During the FIFA 21 season, there was a dispute between EA, player agent Mino Raiola, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The latter raised the discussion on Twitter about whether his name and likeness should even be in FIFA – this was also about FIFPRO.
- A Konami partnership caused the Allianz Arena of FC Bayern not to be able to appear in FIFA anymore.
These are just a few selected examples. With the extension of the FIFPRO partnership, EA Sports likely wants to ensure that in the future, player names won’t have to be mixed up again.
The major competitor Pro Evolution Soccer meanwhile has been struggling with entirely different problems. Its latest incarnation called “eFootball” was not well received, despite – or perhaps because of – a completely overhauled concept.
Upon release, eFootball was received so poorly that Konami even issued an apology and promised improvement.
