Sony passed on FIFA being a PlayStation exclusive
It looks as though Sony almost had the rights to FIFA, but in the end, passed on making EA's football favourite into a PlayStation exclusive.
09th Oct 2023 11:30
EA Sports | Unsplash - CAR GIRL
Sony passed on FIFA being a PlayStation exclusive
It looks as though Sony almost had the rights to FIFA, but in the end, passed on making EA's football favourite into a PlayStation exclusive.
09th Oct 2023 11:30
EA Sports | Unsplash - CAR GIRL
There's little doubt that even in spite of its dramatic name change, EA Sports FC as a franchise is an absolute titan of the casual gaming space. Though the UK might be the hub of the most engagement for the series, the football (or soccer, if you're American) series has held its own year after year.
Although critiques of each FIFA game being too similar to the last have been present for decades now, the series always manages to snake its way into video game charts. Now, it looks like one company had the chance to reap the rewards all by itself.
Sony almost kept FIFA as a console exclusive
Whoopsie. The former vice president of marketing at EA has revealed that once upon a time, the exclusivity of FIFA was on the table for PlayStation - and the team didn't take it.
Tom Stone spoke with Time Extension to reveal the news, mentioning that Sony was given the chance to steal the license for FIFA back in 1997 for its own soccer series. basically halting the franchise before it could even begin so that they could build their own title with it.
It is thought that their own footy game from the '90s, Adidas Power Soccer, would have taken the moniker - but it seems to have slipped through their fingers. We know now that the license has become too expensive for EA to hold onto, so the feasibility of it on PlayStation is questionable - even so, with such star power in the name, it could have been massive for the company.
Why didn't Sony take the FIFA deal?
Stone has revealed that while much of the deal fell to the few team members at the top of Sony, they ultimately decided to pass. It's though this would've undercut EA, a company that had a good working relationship with Sony.
"Chris Deering [then-president of Sony PlayStation Europe] met with me and said, 'We've been offered the rights to FIFA Soccer'," says Stone. "I said, 'You have got to be effing joking. Seriously? ISL has approached you and asked if you would like an exclusive worldwide license for FIFA? After everything we've done for them?' I was really cross.
"But Chris said to me, 'I will not sign that deal unless you can't come to terms with FIFA. That's your deal. You created that.' Obviously, Chris was looking 'big picture' at the support that EA gave to PlayStation worldwide. I think that would have been an interesting conversation had Sony signed that deal, though. I think EA would have responded quite badly to that."
It seems that Sony was feeling pretty kind on that day, but had it known how lucrative the series could have become, maybe that goodwill could have found a breaking point. Xbox EA Sports FC fans, breathe a breath of relief today.
About The Author
Joseph Kime
Joseph Kime is the Senior Trending News Journalist for GGRecon from Devon, UK. Before graduating from MarJon University with a degree in Journalism, he started writing music reviews for his own website before writing for the likes of FANDOM, Zavvi and The Digital Fix. He is host of the Big Screen Book Club podcast, and author of Building A Universe, a book that chronicles the history of superhero movies. His favourite games include DOOM (2016), Celeste and Pokemon Emerald.
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