FIFA’s popular football video game was rebranded as “EA Sports FC” in May 2022 after FIFA and EA Sports failed to reach a licensing agreement. EA Sports assured its fans that the video game would remain the same despite the rebranding. Now, it’s set to make its debut as EA Sports FC.
David Jackson, the game’s VP of Brand, said any name besides FIFA will likely come with scorn from most fans, as the title is etched in their collective memory. “Years from now, however, it may be a blessing in disguise that EA chose a name change, for the governing body’s track record has been far from exemplary.”
FIFA has been embroiled in corruption, and most notably, there’s the fractured world of football licensing. Reports say world football is split amongst various organizations all wanting that large share of revenue. But FIFA realized the need to change the face of the beloved franchise and is also aware of the backlash from football fans if they were to get it wrong.
Rebranding was initiated in April with Uncommon Creative Studio kicking off a massive campaign with a film starring rapper Dave. The logo was taken from the triangular player control indicator that appears above players in the match. The agency helped to orchestrate a large-scale “Welcome to the Club” launch event in Amsterdam in August.
The new triangular logo takes cue from a design element of the FIFA games which crops up repeatedly across its 30-year history. It draws inspiration from the floating triangle which appears above player characters in the electronic game. This has been highlighted in the passing patterns and set plays, and in the isometric angles and triangular polygons of vintage and modern video games.
The new marque sets the FC initials in a triangular grid system – it appears in the three versions across the identity, a primary logo, a letter product prefix, and an authenticity mark. Nils Leonard, the co-founder at Uncommon, said the task of partnering with EA Sports to brand not only one of the most iconic games ever to exist but also arguably the biggest football club in the world was irresistible. “Without knowing it, the new logo had been in our hands for almost 30 years. Above the heads of our heroes, between passes and the feet of legends celebrated the world over.”
Jackson said you do get that kind of eureka moment. “After many months of working through a lot of ways that this thing could look, we found one that we felt was representative of the way that it should look.”
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