One of the most successful commercial relationships in sports is over.
There was no agreement to extend the partnership between Electronic Arts and soccer's global governing body after months of tense negotiations.
The current deal, which was to end after the World Cup, has been adjusted to run through to the Women's World Cup next summer. 150 million people will have to get used to a new name for the series once the tournament is over, according to company officials.
The game won't change much. Even though the World Cup will no longer be included in the game, most of the world's famous clubs and stars will still be available because of separate licensing deals with their teams and leagues. The continuation of the game doesn't change the nature of the rebrand.
To millions of people around the world, the letters FIFA represent not actual soccer but a one-word shorthand for a video-game series that grew to provide the backdrop to the lives of players as diverse as the pros and casual fans. The stars and teams of the sport were known to even the most casual of players through their digital doppelgngers.
Over the past two decades, the game has generated more than $20 billion in sales, thanks to that broad use.
The writing was on the wall for a long time. There were differing expectations of what should be included in a new contract, as well as differing financial expectations, which led to the dispute.
The intervening years had been marked by great technological change and even greater upheaval at FIFA, which almost collapsed after a major corruption scandal in 2015. Infantino has tried and failed to get new revenue streams.
The sides agreed to an amicable separation when talks between Infantino and Andrew Wilson failed to yield a breakthrough.
It was about how can we do more for the players, more for the fans, how can we bring more partners into the game, how can we expand beyond the bounds of the traditional game.
According to people familiar with the talks, FIFA demanded a doubling of its licensing fee and the ability to attach its brand to other digital products, including other video games. That proved to be too far for the company, which now needs to convince fans to use another name.
There is now a chance to look for new opportunities. It will not be easy to duplicate the game.
There will be consequences if you break a relationship that has been going on for 20 years. What do they have? Their name. And then what?
Part of the calculation in changing the name of the game was the steep hurdles any challenger will face in testing the dominance of the company in the video game market. Its position has grown to almost complete control over the soccer gaming industry thanks to more than 300 other similar licensing agreements with organizations. The deals allow for the use of the names and likenesses of both players and clubs in the game.
Many of the licenses that it has will limit what it can do. The world's two biggest club competitions will only be available to players of the game.
Richard Masters, the chief executive of the Premier League, said in a statement that they look forward to working together in the new era. The heads of the German and Spanish leagues as well as officials from the governing bodies of Europe and South America were included in the statement.
The statement also included a comment from Nike. Under its current agreement with the world's most popular game publisher, the company has been limited in its commercial activities because of its sensitivity to its commercial partners. Wilson made clear that the potential for direct-to-consumer sales of team jerseys and other products was created by the free of that restriction.
The commercial success of the game has largely been built on the company's ability to leverage soccer's seasonality, and often the company has made little more than cosmetic changes to its offering.
The gaming analyst said that it is in the top three game franchises of all time. Every year they change the number on the box, put a new player on the front and it's pretty much the same under the hood.
The evolution of how the digital world is changing was the subject of part of the negotiations. The licensing of its name in other products is something that has been sought after by the company, as newer products and games are seen as digital worlds as much as games.
The video game market is not the same as the global name that it made famous.
We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars building this and you are telling me that we can get a license to use the name?
Over the years, the financial strategy for the game has evolved, with profitability growing on the back of innovations like player packs, similar to trading cards, that require users to spend money within the game as they seek to build the best rosters. The in-game feature known as Ultimate Team was estimated to be worth as much as a billion dollars.
Infantino, who last month announced he would run for a third term as president and promised ever larger handouts to the soccer federations that vote in the election, is at risk because of a break with EA Sports and the loss of its nine-figure licensing payments. Complicating matters, too, has been the change in the commercial department. The third head of commercial to leave since Infantino was elected president in 2016 was Kay Madati, who left last month after less than a year in the post.
For now, the focus is on the World Cup. Wilson said that the last release of the game will be its biggest yet. He said he hoped the World Cup wouldn't be the last game in the series, and that a separate deal could be made with the world's most popular game.
He said they would love to continue to represent the World Cup through the game.
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