FIFA says football gaming "must involve more than one party controlling and exploiting all rights"

FIFA has issued a statement following reports its negotiations with EA have hit an impasse, saying it believes football gaming and esports “must involve more than one party controlling and exploiting all rights”.

Earlier this week, a report by the New York Times suggested EA’s recent surprise announcement that it was “exploring the idea of renaming” its long-running FIFA football game series comes at a time when its licence renewal negotiations with FIFA have stalled as the two parties struggle to agree on specifics.

One area of disagreement is said to be financial – with FIFA reportedly looking to more than double the cost of its licence to over $1 billion USD for each four-year World Cup cycle – but the report also claimed EA is keen to explore other avenues using the FIFA licence, such as video game tournaments and digital products like NFTs, while FIFA wants to limit the scope of the deal to pursue new opportunities itself.

Following that report, a newly issued statement from FIFA has made its position abundantly clear, with the organisation saying it believes football gaming and eSports “needs to be a space that is occupied by more than one party controlling all rights.”