EA’s new football game is coming out this year and will not have the FIFA license. The game will be rebranded as EA Sports FC 24, with its release date leaked recently.

EA Sports FC 24 will allegedly launch on 29 September for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation, according to bilbil-kun (via Video Games Chronicle). Which isn’t really surprising to many, as that’s when all football games from EA will come out: at the tail end of September.

What might be surprising is that the game will offer a one-week early access period. However, just like most games with early access days prior to launch, you’ll need to buy the Ultimate Edition of the upcoming football game.

Why the name change? Apparently FIFA asked EA to pay US$1 billion to use the FIFA name in its new football titles. The latter clearly refused. This led FIFA to work with third-party studios and publishers to possibly make a new football game without EA’s help. Here’s a quote from FIFA president Gianni Infantino:

“I can assure you that the only authentic, real game that has the FIFA name will be the best one available for gamers and football fans. The FIFA name is the only global, original title. FIFA 23, FIFA 24, FIFA 25 and FIFA 26, and so on–the constant is the FIFA name and it will remain forever and remain THE BEST.”

It remains to be seen if EA Sports FC 24 will do better than the last FIFA game. After all, FIFA 23 has reached 10.3 million players during its first week of launch last September.