Releasing its first entry back in 1993. the EA Sports FC series has long been a core part of the annual sports game release schedule, alongside other franchises like NBA 2K and Madden, also published by EA. While the series has seen its fair share of controversy thanks to EA FC 24 Coins  in-game purchases, it has been incredibly successful, and each iteration typically appears on lists of that year's best-selling games.

Despite this popularity, cracks in the EA-EA Sports FC relationship began to show last year, and EA CEO Andrew Wilson reportedly told internal staff that the license was holding the series back from pushing out regular updates and partnering with certain brands just a few months ago. Statements like these, alongside new trademark filings by EA, led many to believe that the two organizations were headed towards a split.

A statement issued today, May 10. on the EA website has confirmed its longstanding partnership with EA Sports FC has ended, going on to reveal the new name of all future EA-published soccer games: EA Sports FC - a title unambiguously free from any EA Sports FC branding. The statement assures fans that all the content they have come to expect from the EA Sports FC games will remain in place moving forward, but that this new route will allow the series to "innovate, create and evolve." The statement also notes that FC 2423 will be releasing as planned this year, with the new EA Sports FC title taking over in summer of 2023.

Critics and players alike generally consider modern EA Sports FC games to have only subtle improvements over their predecessors, and one of the biggest complaints from fans of the series is the lack of innovation and change between full-priced releases. If this split from EA Sports FC does indeed allow EA to deliver more substantial changes to its soccer games, it has the potential to go over well with players.

However, those hoping for a true "new era" may want to tamper their expectations until more is revealed about the future of EA Sports FC. EA has been successful in publishing similar EA Sports FC products each year, so there is little reason to believe that the company is keen to put more effort, money, and resources behind evolving the series if it isn't necessary. Where exactly the EA Sports FC gaming license will go after EA, however, could result in a much less predictable outcome.

Battlefield 2042 and FC 24 may be coming to Xbox Game Pass, according to a recent Microsoft Store update. Previous entries in both franchises have appeared on Microsoft's subscription service before via the implementation of EA Play.

Both Battlefield 2042 and FC 24 were released by EA last year. FC 24 gave fans what they expected from the franchise, but did very little in the way of innovation for the series outside of an aesthetic facelift for current-gen consoles thanks to the HyperMotion motion capture technology, and  buy EA FC 24 Coins was widely criticized for its monetization practices. Battlefield 2042 had the worst response, with many players deeming the game broken and unplayable due to its many bugs, resulting in a 2.1 user score on Metacritic, and even leading to joke games such as Clownfield 2042 being created to ridicule the title, which went on to bomb in sales.