EA Sports FC launches to massive success despite lack of FIFA name

In May of last year, EA announced that it would no longer be partnering with FIFA for its annual football titles, with the long-running FIFA series now being rebranded to EA Sports FC. While there were concerns that the disassociation from the FIFA name would lead to lower sales, this does not seem to be the case, with EA announcing that FC 24 has already surpassed 11 million players.

As reported by Gamesindustry.biz, the newly rebranded EA Sports FC 24 has already been doing numbers since it launched on the 29th of September – amassing a total player count of 11.3 million.

It is worth noting that the game was available slightly earlier for some, with the Early Access period beginning one week prior on the 22nd of September – selling 6.8 million copies during said period.

Early Access or not, it is quite clear that EA losing the FIFA license has not hindered its sales, with EA Sports president Cam Weber stating “In addition to welcoming back millions of our longtime players, new players in FC 24 are up nearly 20% year over year, showing the excitement of football fans everywhere to join the Club.”

Weber continued, “We are building the world's biggest football community through EA Sports FC, and we're just getting started.”

EA’s FIFA titles have historically been some of the best selling-games every single year and while its association with FIFA certainly helped with visibility and general outreach – it is now clear that EA has successfully managed to associate its own publisher name with being the premiere football experience.

It will be interesting to see how long-term sales fare, and how the eventual release of FIFA’s own football title will affect interest in EA Sports FC.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of EA Sports FC? Does the FIFA name matter in gaming? Do you have high hopes for FIFA’s own football title? Let us know down below.

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