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Can EA continue using FIFAs toxic brand?

Why would they change the name? FIFA conveys what people want (only in terms of the games): a huge set of licensed players. Plus they'd probably suffer a drop in sales if they changed the game's name.

Would FIFA allow them the license if it didn't have the branding on the box?

EA is basically paying FIFA for their name only. Leagues & national teams are licensed by national federations (e.g. they pay the DFB to use the German national team & the DFL to use Bundesliga/2. Bundesliga teams)
 

foltzie1

Member
John Oliver said it best.

[[Soccer] is an organized religion. And FIFA is its church. Just think about it: Its leader is infallible, it compels South American countries to spend money they don’t have building opulent cathedrals, and it may ultimately be responsible for the deaths of shocking numbers of people in the Middle East. But — but — but — but for millions of people, around the world like me, it is also the guardian of the only thing that gives their lives any meaning. And if that comparison does not make Americans love soccer then, frankly, nothing will.
 

Liamc723

Member
FIFA is one of the most successful gaming brands in both sales year after year. Obviously they will continue using it.

It's like to ask Nintendo to stop making Mario games.

Seriously? There's a monumental difference between this and Nintendo making Mario games. I don't think you know what you're talking about.
 

Mikey Jr.

Member
I'm gonna go ahead and say 99% of people playing fifa don't give a fuck.

So yes, ea will continue with fifa branding.
 

WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
Yeah because it would be like a football game changing its name to Joe Montana. Everyone would be fucking confused.
 

spekkeh

Banned
It´s not like FIFA started being corrupt just a few days ago.

It´s been going on AND it was well know for decades.

Didn´t hurt EA so far - probably wont hurt them in the future.
Yeah everyone knew MAFIFA was a cesspool of corruption for over a decade and that didn't hinder its popularity. The only thing that should give pause is how systemic the bribing for use of the license was, and that it is therefore quite possible that EA participated in this racket as well.
 
Honestly I think most wont care. It is getting your soccer/football fix. Could be called GIFA. I bought the 19.99 FIFA 15 from TRU just now ha. Didnt think twice after hearing the news story.
 

brett2

Member
I'm sure EA does some sort of research as to what changing a game's title would potentially do for sales. It would be interesting to see what they come up with sales wise if they just named it say "International Football". Tiger Woods as a brand obviously became less valuable over time so I'm sure they did research and figured out it was no longer worth the investment. I would love to see the research for Madden as well, which I would have guessed would have changed titles at this point. Maybe John Madden charges them very little for his namesake these days?
 

skynidas

Banned
What? 99% of the people that buy FIFA don't give a shit about any of that. EA is not going to drop the FIFA brand any time soon.
 
After the fun and games of this morning only being the tip of the ice berg are we going to have another Tiger Woods situation here for EA?

People don't think of Sepp Blatter and all those cronies when they see FIFA on the box.

They think about the game they played last year with their mates, and the year before, and the year before.
 

LewieP

Member
No it isn't. The FIFA license gives them four letters on the front of the game and that's it. They'd also have a deal with FIFA for the World Cup license, but that's it. The licensing for the players and clubs have nothing to do with FIFA.

Huh, I thought it was a package deal. My mistake.


Edit: Given that, I will say that I can see EA maybe parting ways with FIFA if they thought doing so would be a profitable move. I don't know how much they pay for the FIFA license, but I can see that there would be value in EA creating a brand which they own, although the upfront costs of marketing and such would be pretty huge. More likely they will stick with using the FIFA name for the foreseeable future, and only sever ties when they either have no choice in the matter, or if the association was impacting their bottom line. Why mess with the golden goose.
 

benny_a

extra source of jiggaflops
Too bad the target audience for this game is mostly young kids and males with less to no interest in politics. FIFA will continue to sell gazillions of units and nearly no costumer will think about the witch hunt for homosexuals in Russia or the fact that more "slaves" are going to die building the stadiums in Qatar than the Pyramids in Egypt...
Well of course more slaves are going to die building the stadiums in Qatar than the Pyramids in Eqypt, because those weren't built by slaves.
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
FIFA has been toxic for years, has never made a difference. For all intents and purposes, the game and governing body are completely separate to fans.
 

OCD Guy

Member
The FIFA brand has been toxic for decades. The organisation is riddled with corruption. I don't know why these new revelations would change anything.

Exactly. For people familiar with FIFA anyway it's not "news" that there was corruption amongst FIFA officials, and this isn't the first time there has been the spotlight on FIFA for corruption.

This will have ZERO effect on EA's games and their sales.

I think some people have forgotten how long EA have held the FIFA licence for, they had FIFA games on the Sega mega drive for godsake. And in that time FIFA have been under the spotlight for corruption, dodgy dealings etc, why do some people suddenly think today's news will make more of a difference than past news???
 
EA is itself a toxic brand – they go hand-in-hand I think. A perfect match.

What are you, stuck in 2002 or something?

EA is no more a toxic brand than Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, or anybody else.

Hahah, true.

I will forever dislike EA for their Porsche deal.

Do you hate every brand that tries to secure licenses? I guess it isn't like you can't use RUF-branded Porsches in EVERY OTHER RACING GAME EVER.
 

Az

Member
FIFA is one of the most successful gaming brands in both sales year after year. Obviously they will continue using it.

It's like to ask Nintendo to stop making Mario games.

When did high ranking Mario officials get arrested?
 

OCD Guy

Member
When did high ranking Mario officials get arrested?

You realise that this isn't the first time FIFA has been under the spotlight yeah? It has not made any difference in the past? What makes you think today's news will make a difference?

And let's put something else out there, if it turned out today that a high executive in Sony was arrested, would that make people suddenly stop buying the PS4? Lol
 

Madness

Member
After the fun and games of this morning only being the tip of the ice berg are we going to have another Tiger Woods situation here for EA?

The Tiger Woods situation is different. FIFA is to soccer, what the NHL is to hockey, what the NBA is to basketball, etc. They'll never get rid of FIFA. The brand is too famous and we'll known.

Tiger Woods however is an aging golfer with a myriad of personal problems. He's nowhere near as good as he was, and while he may be the best golfer of all time, or one of the bests, it's still golf, PGA Tour Golf at best. EA needs Rory McIlroy, golf needs the next Tiger Woods just like the NBA needed Kobe and Lebron after MJ. EA PGA Tour Golf will always suffice. They can put Tiger's picture on the cover and it'll have the same effect as the name Tiger Woods PGA Tour 15 etc.
 

10k

Banned
Nobody cares, really. There has been corruption of Fifa for years, it's been all over the European papers since Blatter's inception. People still bought Fifa anyways and will continue to do so.
 
What are you, stuck in 2002 or something?

EA is no more a toxic brand than Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, or anybody else.



Do you hate every brand that tries to secure licenses? I guess it isn't like you can't use RUF-branded Porsches in EVERY OTHER RACING GAME EVER.

No EA is a toxic brand – needing to compare them to Sony doesn't mean they're any less toxic.
 

nortonff

Hi, I'm nortonff. I spend my life going into threads to say that I don't care about the topic of the thread. It's a really good use of my time.
FIFA 15 is the best football game ever.
So I don't care about nothing else.
 

Handy Fake

Member
You realise that this isn't the first time FIFA has been under the spotlight yeah? It has not made any difference in the past? What makes you think today's news will make a difference?

And let's put something else out there, if it turned out today that a high executive in Sony was arrested, would that make people suddenly stop buying the PS4? Lol

Been some discussion over this - a lot of talk of the fellas "rolling over" on the corruption in the rank and file. This is really big news and wonderful news for football fans who are more than aware of just what a jolly box of shitness FIFA are.;)

I don't think the Sony analogy quite fits, but I get where you're coming from.
 

BibiMaghoo

Member
FIFA is one of the most successful gaming brands in both sales year after year. Obviously they will continue using it.

It's like to ask Nintendo to stop making Mario games.

This. I think a body as large as Fifa can get through a few scandals, and EA I doubt cares at all. The brand is football, and corruption doesn't change that.
 

mnannola

Member
FIFA is one of the most successful gaming brands in both sales year after year. Obviously they will continue using it.

It's like to ask Nintendo to stop making Mario games.

If a man named 'Mario' was a plumber and also found to be a serial killer and had a killer mustache, it would be an interesting time for Nintendo. Depending on how the news coverage would go, they would have to think about either shelving Mario, or changing the name.
 

Daemul

Member
After the fun and games of this morning only being the tip of the ice berg are we going to have another Tiger Woods situation here for EA?

gif-4.gif


Dude, people have known about FIFA's corruption for decades and still bought the game in their millions, today's events aren't going to change shit.
 

OCD Guy

Member
Been some discussion over this - a lot of talk of the fellas "rolling over" on the corruption in the rank and file. This is really big news and wonderful news for football fans who are more than aware of just what a jolly box of shitness FIFA are.;)

I don't think the Sony analogy quite fits, but I get where you're coming from.

The Sony analogy was just an example of how if a minority of people are arrested in a Corporation it wouldn't have a major impact on a strong brand.

Look at Apple, if Steve Jobs had been arrested do you think it would make a difference?

I guess what I'm trying to do is simplify things, the reality is that the majority of people don't do things based on their morals. If people were suddenly going to stop buying FIFA out of principle because it's using branding from a corrupt organisation then they'd never have bought it in the first place.

Most people don't care, look at Apple and the spotlight on child workers, people killing themselves due to pressure, working conditions etc, those things are morally wrong, they were in the spotlight, and Apple are a massive brand, has that affected sales? Nope.

I think some people are giving society too much credit.

The average person buying FIFA doesn't care about the politics of the FIFA brand, they just want the game all their friends are buying. People on forums that discuss things like this topic are a very small minority.

I bet 90% of FIFA buyers don't even post on forums. It's like with call of duty, people on forums discussing which developer is better, is it trey arch, is it infinity ward blah blah blah, do you think the average buyers gives a shit? They don't even know, they see a new call of duty and they want it.


Going back to FIFA the only scenario that could make a slight change would be for example if say Lionel Messi was suddenly in the news for Rape allegations, or some sort of corruption then they wouldn't use him on the front cover, but again do you think people care who is on the front cover lol.

People who are even thinking EA are going to suddenly drop the FIFA branding because of today are crazy.
 
Breaking news: FIFA is corrupt!!!!

Will still play the shit out of FIFA 16, it's just an organization made up of all our corrupt national FA's.
 

rhandino

Banned
If a man named 'Mario' was a plumber and also found to be a serial killer and had a killer mustache, it would be an interesting time for Nintendo. Depending on how the news coverage would go, they would have to think about either shelving Mario, or changing the name.

it's like to ask Nintendo to stop making Mario games.....if Mario was a real-life murderer, owner of slaves, etc.

are you guys actually serious?

FIFA has been utterly corrupt for a long ass time and this is not the first time they have been exposed like this, in fact MAFIFA has been a thing since Sepp Blatter was elected as the president of FIFA like 20 years ago...
 

Handy Fake

Member
The Sony analogy was just an example of how if a minority of people are arrested I a. Corporation it wouldn't have a major impact on a strong brand.

Look at Apple, if Steve Jobs had been arrested do you think it would make a difference?

I guess what I'm trying to do is simplify things, the reality is that the majority of people don't do things based on their morals. If people were suddenly going to stop buying FIFA out of principle because it's using branding from a corrupt organisation then they'd never have bought it in the first place.

Most people don't care, look at Apple and the spotlight on child workers, people killing themselves due to pressure, working conditions etc, those things are morally wrong, they were in the spotlight, and Apple are a massive brand, has that affected sales? Nope.

I think some people are giving society too much credit.

The average person buying FIFA doesn't care about the politics of the FIFA brand, they just want the game all their friends are buying. People on forums that discuss things like this topic are a very small minority.

I bet 90% of FIFA buyers don't even post on forums


I do understand where you're coming from, but I think you're underestimating just how the populace at large feel about FIFA. The outpouring of virtual cheering when the news broke today is nothing you'd get if it was any other corporation.
By and large, football is akin to a religion for many, many people. Myself included.;)
FIFA was something we just had to put up with until Blatter/Platini were either deposed or died, hehe.
 

GHG

Member
Wtf am I reading in this thread.

Do you think FIFA fans actually give a shit about the stuff that's going on with fifa at the moment?

He'll, do you think football fans in general give a shit about it?
 

Lulu23

Member
If the controversies that surround FIFA all the time doesn't stop people from watching the World Cup in Brazil, Qatar and so on, it won't stop people from buying FIFA every year.
 
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