All available FIFA games have been removed from digital platforms, marking an end to EA Sports’ famous football franchise.
There’s a big change coming for fans of football gaming, as FIFA is set to be rebranded as EA Sports FC 24, following EA – Electronic Arts, to those over a certain age – taking the decision to end their licence with FIFA after renewal negotiations proved difficult.
Now, it seems as if all available FIFA games have been removed from sale on PlayStation 5, Xbox, Switch, Steam, and Epic Games stores online.
Advert
It’s the end of an era for FIFA fans, but things might not be set to change that much outside of the branding.
This latest development was spotted by industry expert MauroNL, who then revealed the news to everyone on X – formerly Twitter – writing: “EA's annual football game, now called EA FC, no longer sports the FIFA name in its title.
“All prior entries in the series have been delisted from all major storefronts.
“Every FIFA title from 14 up to 23 can't be purchased anymore.
“FIFA 22 & 23 can still be played via EA Play.”
Whilst the games are no longer able to be downloaded, there are some downloadable content packs that can be bought for the games, which date all the way back to FIFA 14 on the modern platforms.
But, you won’t be able to find the games or any purchase option.
The only explanation available seems to be on Steam, where a notice states that EA Sports has deliberately unlisted all the old games.
That message reads: “At the request of the publisher, EA SPORTS™ FIFA 23 is unlisted on the Steam store and will not appear in search.”
We can’t be sure yet whether the games will eventually return, or whether they will be rebranded or sent back out in a different format, but we’ve fired off a request for comment to EA to see what they think.
EA Sports FC 24 is pretty similar to FIFA 23, as not much changes quickly in this game series but the name.
However, the game – which is out on Friday (29 September) – has a 79 percent rating on Metacritic and has been reviewed by several gaming outlets already.
Whilst Eurogamer called it ‘business as usual’, GamesRadar said that the new game was the ‘most playable’ game in the series for a while.
Changes this time include increased assimilation for female players, who had previously been kept separate, as well as an added ‘evolution’ feature for developing players, and a streamlined Ultimate Team, which is one of the key reasons that many people choose to buy the new games.
LADbible has contacted EA Sports for a comment.
Topics: Gaming, Football, Sport, Technology
Tom Wood