Who would have thought that FIFA and Konami would not only make peace but also become very good friends? Just a few hours ago, FIFA announced a collaboration agreement with Konami.
According to the published text, eFootball, the official video game of Konami, will be responsible for hosting the FIFAe World Cup, the official eSports tournament of FIFA.
The qualifiers for this online championship began yesterday, Thursday, October 10. A total of 18 countries will be able to participate in this tournament: Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Spain, England, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Turkey.
FIFA has long maintained a close relationship with Electronic Arts. Since the mid-1990s, the sports organization and the video game company had an agreement through which it lent its name. This collaboration has been present among players for almost three decades. However, during the spring of 2023, Electronic Arts confirmed that it had not reached an agreement with FIFA to renew the name. From then on, the title began to be known by the already familiar name: EA Sports FC.
Why was the agreement broken exactly? Although there is no official information on the matter, it is estimated that FIFA was requesting about one billion dollars for a four-year contract. Electronic Arts was not willing to pay this amount, which is why they chose to lose the license. FIFA, on the other hand, commented that it remained interested in the video game world. Although we have not yet had any official title with its name, this agreement with Konami represents a step towards it.
