Ever since EA revealed it was dropping the FIFA license, rumors have swirled that archrival 2K Sports plans to pick up the baton and create its own football simulator. However, in today’s earnings call, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said that any potential EA Sports FC competitor will face a number of complications.
“I would like to point out that the FIFA license does not give you any rights; it does not give you any players, teams or leagues,” Zelnick said. “So it’s not as simple as, say, negotiating with the NFL, NBA or MLB, where at most you have to negotiate with the league and the players’ association. So anyone who wants to compete in a soccer simulation environment… you wouldn’t have to deal with just one specific brand license, there are many more.”
Unlike American leagues like the NFL, international soccer consists of a elaborate web of teams, leagues, tournaments, and players, many of which must be negotiated individually. EA has largely monopolized the market in this regard, locking up the rights to the Premier League, La Liga, and other popular franchises with EA Sports FC. Konami spent years trying to erode EA’s dominance with Pro Evolution Soccer before eventually moving to free-to-play eFootball, leaving EA largely unrivaled in the soccer market.
EA withdrew its FIFA license in 2022 amid reports that the organization, which serves as the governing body for various national associations around the world, was seeking more than $1 billion for the four-year World Cup cycle. EA rebranded the series as EA Sports FC in 2023 with relatively few changes. There has since been speculation that Take-Two could pick up the FIFA license, but questions remain about how it will approach licensing the various teams and leagues.
Benefits of creating an EA Sports FC player
Zelnick noted that there are gigantic potential rewards for developing a successful simulator. “We’re very aware that it’s incredibly difficult to make a great simulator experience on console, it takes a long time, and if you do it right, your users will be very loyal and very embedded.”
College Football 25, which finally released to a vast audience last month, spent nearly four years in development as EA painstakingly negotiated with schools and players. Take-Two would face a similar challenge with a potential FIFA game, but without the added benefit of an established technological baseline unless its technology was heavily repurposed from NBA 2K. Asked what its success might mean for Take-Two, Zelnick said the company had seen the success of the revival but that it had nothing to announce about a potential return to college basketball, whether in NBA 2K or elsewhere.
Zelnick, meanwhile, was quick to remind listeners that Take-Two is already in the soccer business with Top Eleven, which he called “the number one mobile soccer manager game.” He also shouted out NBA 2K, WWE 2K and the rest of the publisher’s sports games, calling the various leagues “great partners.”
“From our perspective, we have a great sports portfolio… I’m sure we’ll announce more in due course,” Zelnick said.
He also addressed the terrible reviews for the Borderlands movie in an IGN-exclusive commentary, asking fans to “give it a chance,” and spoke about the potential impact of the video game voice actors’ strike. For more, check out all the other biggest games releasing in 2024.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s news director and also co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? DM her @the_katbot.
