Enthusiasts will have to get used to it: the mythical name of a famous video game will disappear.

The football simulation FIFA will be renamed EA Sports FC, the American video game publisher Electronic Arts announced on Tuesday.

This decision marks the end of the partnership with the international football federation, against a background of dissension.

Launched in 1993, FIFA, by its full name EA Sports FIFA, has since sold more than 325 million copies, according to figures released by EA in early 2021, making it the best-selling sports simulation in the world. story.

The game has generated, in almost 30 years, more than 20 billion dollars in turnover, according to the

New York Times

.

FIFA 2023 will be here

Last October several media reported that the International Federation of Amateur Football (FIFA), which oversees the national federations of each member country, had requested that the envelope allocated by EA for the use of its name be raised from 150 to 250 millions of dollars.

Already dissatisfied with the partnership before this new request, according to the

New York Times

, the leaders of Electronic Arts have decided to give it up and change the name of the game, for the 2024 edition, the 2023 vintage, which will be released this fall, retaining the FIFA name.

Despite this change, EA has kept its agreements with all the other leagues and federations which allow it to offer to choose from more than 19,000 existing players.

With EA Sports FC, Electronic Arts wants to "create the most influential and biggest club in the world, at the center of the fans", said Electronic Arts chief executive Andrew Wilson.

According to EA, the EA Sports FIFA game has over 150 million player accounts.

A turnover increase of 35%

Electronic Arts has been able to seize one of the strong trends in the video game industry, namely online games, which represented 76% of its turnover during the fourth quarter of its staggered 2021/22 financial year, which ended end of March.

The publisher published on Tuesday a total turnover of 1.82 billion dollars for this quarter, an increase of 35%.

Net orders, the most-watched indicator in the video game industry, hit $1.75 billion, slightly below analysts' expectations.

EA reported net income of $225 million for the period, quite significantly below expectations when reported on a per share basis.

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