Summary
Football’s governing body FIFA has partnered withKonamifor the upcoming FIFAe World Cup. Though the tournament has been played on Electronic Arts' FIFA since the tournament’s inception two decades ago, the high-profile split between FIFA and EA in 2022 has resulted in FIFA partnering with Konami’s eFootball for this year’s event.
There will be two FIFAe World Cup events this year, one for console and one for mobile. Unlike EA FC, eFootball’s esports matches on console are usually played two-versus-two, while mobile matches are one-versus-one. This is the format the FIFAe World Cup will use, though qualifying for everyone is done through one-versus-one matches. The qualifying for this event begins today with more information available onKonami’s website.
eFootball and eFootball esports are certainly not as popular as the game’s competitor EA FC, but the game isn’t quite dead in the water, either. eFootball has a dedicated core fan base that’s increased since the game went free-to-play. In January, Konami reported that eFootball has been downloaded over700 million times.
A New Era?
“At Konami, we have continued to take on challenges in the development of football simulation and esports,” says Koji Kobayashi, senior executive at Konami. “We are very pleased to be able to contribute to the promotion of eFootball in a new dimension through this collaboration with FIFAe.”
FIFA’s chief business officer echoed this sentiment: “We are incredibly excited to join forces with Konami. This collaboration aligns perfectly with our mission to promote football globally and to provide a platform for players to showcase their skills.”
FIFA and EA broke off their decades-long licensing agreement in 2022, reportedly because FIFA was trying to double EA’s licensing fee while also disallowing the developer from using FIFA’s likeness for products other than its iconic sports simulation games. In the end, the two former partners couldn’t come to an agreement.
As for eFootball, there was a period during the opening decade of this century when Pro Evolution Soccer was genuinely seen as the superior option and competed with FIFA commercially. However, the series fell behind its rival over the subsequent decade and now, there really isn’t much of a competition as EA FC is far more popular and successful.
