Take Two confirms there are no plans to apply for a FIFA license to make games

Electronic Arts (EA) and FIFA terminate the FIFA license agreement at the end of 2022. It is rumored that the development of FIFA licensed football games is done by Take-Two.

As a decades-long business partnership comes to an end, soccer game players around the world are waiting for a new developer to take over the license. Back in October, it was reported that EA was considering renaming the entire FIFA IP upon the expiration of its contract with the international soccer governing body.

In a new announcement, Take-Two said there are currently no plans to buy FIFA rights but may be interested in the future. Since Take-Two has created popular sports games like NBA 2K and WWE 2K, it was appropriate for them to take on the FIFA license. However, as reported by IGN, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick confirmed there are currently no plans to purchase a FIFA license. “We are certainly interested in expanding our opportunities in sport and FIFA is a great brand with incredible influence, but we have no plans for that at the moment,” the CEO said. speak.

Chances are Take-Two will take over the license. But even if that happens, it will take some time because EA will keep that license until the release of FIFA 23. The future of the FIFA license is very important to the development of games based on it. The most popular sport in the world. In the last few years, more and more gamers are playing soccer games on mobile.

While the report said Take-Two shares fell more than 15% in trading after the company reported financial results. The company said its revenue outlook for the quarter and for fiscal 2023 will be lower than previously expected. Analysts Refinitiv said the game studio’s revenue reached $ 5.88 billion for the year. For the financial year ending March 31, 2023, the airline lost more than $630 million.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said: “The downward forecast reflects changes in our process. The volatility of the exchange rate and the current macroeconomic landscape has influenced that.” Take-Two is best known for games like Grand Theft Auto and the NBA 2K series. Take-Two owns mobile game maker Zynga, which has the hit Words with Friends game, after buying it for $12.7 billion earlier this year.