The Euro Cup arrives at EA Sports FC 24 as free DLC, but we still have to wait

The Euro Cup comes to EA Sports FC 24 as free DLC, but we still have to wait, because the update will not arrive until well into 2024

Despite what skeptics thought, EA Sports FC 24 is performing extraordinarily well. The FIFA name has proven to be unnecessary for EA, who continue to sell their game like hotcakes. Even if this new edition of the game is, in no way, groundbreaking compared to previous franchise releases. This does not mean that they won’t continue adding content, including what players have been requesting the most so far.

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Electronic Arts has confirmed that it will include the UEFA Euro 2024 in EA Sports FC 2024. However, it won’t happen precisely soon. This beloved tournament will be added during a free update in the summer of 2024, available on all platforms where their flagship game can be played.

On the other hand, EA Sports has taken the opportunity to announce a small gift for those who dive into playing the game now. Because all users who have played EA Sports FC 24 before January 16, 2024, will receive one of six possible players from UEFA Euro 2024 for Ultimate Team. In any case, you won’t have to wait until then if you have already been playing the game. These players will start being distributed from December 18. The possible players include Jack Grealish, Ousmane Dembélé, Federico Chiesa, Florian Wirtz, Virgil Van Dijk, and Álvaro Morata.

In this way, it doesn’t seem that EA Sports’ relationships have been affected in any way with the different football federations. On the contrary, the marketing director of UEFA, Guy-Laurent Epstein, has stated that they are delighted to expand their collaborations with the company by being part of the game.

In that sense, everything indicates that EA Sports will continue expanding EA Sports FC 24 in the coming months with new updates and gifts for players. This shows that, regardless of what the pessimists may have thought, EA Sports is far from having lost momentum with the name change.

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How the biggest breakup in video games came about: from FIFA 24 to EA Sports FC 24

EA has cut ties with Fifa and that is why its legendary game is not called FIFA 24 this year, but in a more complicated way: EA Sports FC 24

It is impossible that there is anyone who has not heard about the most mediatic breakup of the videogame. EA has dropped its FIFA license and so its game is no longer called FIFA, but EA Sports FC. What is probably not so well known is all that this entails for EA and what is on the table and what they are leaving behind by making this decision. Because never in the history of video gaming, nor of modern capitalism, has there been a branding disruption like this before. And as such, it is worth studying its reasons and its implications.

The first FIFA, FIFA International Soccer, was released in 1993 for the SEGA Mega Drive. Since then it became one of the two big soccer titles, to the point that, by the beginning of the following decade, the numbers they commanded were dizzying. According to a study by Ampere Anylisis, by 2010 the FIFA franchise had a net worth of $513 million. By 2020, it was already worth $2 billion.

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That is to say, a priori, it does not seem to make much sense to dissociate from a brand that generates so much value lightly. So what has happened to make them decide to change the name? EA has decided to dispense with the organization’s license.

Normally, FIFA offers companies its license to make products under its brand for four-year periods, coinciding with the frequency of the World Cup. At the time of the license renewal, according to New York Times sources, FIFA wanted EA to double the $150 million it already paid them annually for the license. Something the multinational company refused to do.

What are the consequences of this? Essentially, they cannot use the FIFA brand. Neither the name nor the logo nor the World Cup competition. But nothing else. So the blow is hard, but not insurmountable: the 19,000 players, 700 teams and 30 leagues they have registered can continue to be represented in the game, because the image licenses are not managed by FIFA itself. Therefore, EA hopes that with this change, and with a great emphasis on advertising, they will be able to make a change to their own brand in a way that does not significantly impact their income. All this while getting rid of a partner that was no longer proving profitable.

Whether it will work or not remains to be seen. EA has made a laudable effort because EA Sports FC 24 is present in all the places where someone can doubt whether that game is FIFA or not. But habit is strong. And getting it out of people’s heads that they are playing El Fifa might be harder than EA thinks.

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