In a new blog post called “Fifa set to widen gaming and esports portfolio” FIFA now explained what the future of the brand will look like:

“After a comprehensive and strategic assessment of the gaming and interactive entertainment market, FIFA is confident and optimistic about its long-term future in gaming and eSports. […]It is clear that this must be a space occupied by more than one party controlling all rights.”

FIFA is probably not a fan of EA establishing a bit of a monopoly when it comes to soccer games, especially after the recent failure of Konami’s eFootball. So the company is now in talks with some members of the industry, including developers, investors and analysts, to “build a long-term view of the gaming, esports and interactive entertainment sectors.”

With EA’s FIFA titles, the brand has definitely been able to build a name for itself in the gaming sector; after all, FIFA has been one of the most popular soccer games ever. Next year, FIFA will have to start from scratch, so to speak, and compete against EA’s sports game with a new partner.

However, FIFA has enough resources to compete with EA, after all, the company organizes the World Cup, which gives them the opportunity to reach soccer fans around the world.

“FIFA has also identified the need for greater alignment between the overlap between virtual sports and FIFA’s soccer competitions. In this regard, FIFA looks forward to using the FIFA World Cup (with an audience of four billion) and the FIFA Women’s World Cup (with an audience of 1.2 billion) as platforms to introduce and integrate exciting new games and eSports offerings.”

For soccer fans, next year looks to be pretty exciting, with EA’s new soccer game under a new name and Konami’s Try, to turn eFootball into something presentable, UFL’s new free-to-play offshoot, and any plans from FIFA itself.