FIFA Is Asking EA To Pay $1 Billion For Naming Rights To Football Series - Report

As many might have guessed, the reason EA and FIFA are having a difficult time coming to terms on a new agreement for the football series is money.

The New York Times reports that EA and FIFA have been in negotiations for at least two years about the future of the lucrative video game series, which the site reports has brought in more than $20 billion for EA over the past 20 years. The series has paid dividends for FIFA, too, which makes about $150 million per year from EA's games due to its licensing agreement; the game is FIFA's most valuable commercial deal overall.

But with the EA-FIFA deal set to expire at the end of 2022, talks are breaking down, according to NYT's sources. This boiled over recently when EA Sports GM Cam Weber released a statement saying EA was considering its options, one of them being dropping FIFA altogether. Trademark filings have suggested EA could rebrand the series EA Sports FC. While all of this is happening, there are ongoing rumors that EA's next football game might adopt a free-to-play, live service model not unlike Konami's eFootball game.

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