Electronic Arts is doing its best imitation of the men’s FIFA World Cup this summer despite no longer having a licensing agreement with FIFA. This has required a balancing act with creative copy in promotional materials.
The company said EA Sports FC 26—the latest edition of EA’s annual video game series, which formerly had FIFA branding in its title—will roll out a “new 48-team international tournament mode” on consoles Thursday, with the purpose of “celebrating the summer of international football.”
It’s no coincidence this bonus content, which features an almost identical tournament format, is coming a week before the start of the real-life FIFA World Cup. EA referred to the competition in its press release as “World’s Game international tournament” mode and says it has full national team licenses for 41 of the 48 participants “that will be in action over the summer.” Licensing for individual nations is separate from rights to the tournament itself and not connected to FIFA.
The only countries not included in EA Sports FC 26 that are playing in the actual FIFA World Cup are Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Curaçao, Jordan and Qatar. Congo DR and Bosnia and Herzegovina will be involved in the video game, EA announced, but only with generic kits at launch.
