If Fifa is about to make an EA Sports FC competitor,

In this week’s newsletter: Fifa will reportedly team up with 2K games to make its rival to EA Sports FC – and it should welcome a rival

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Two years ago, the long and lucrative relationship between Electronic Arts and Fifa broke down, with EA taking its ball home and launching EA Sports FC, a new brand for its footie sim series. Fifa president Gianni Infantino made a sulky declaration that he would find a new developer and that, “the only authentic, real game that has the Fifa name will be the best one available for gamers and football fans”. This seemed like a ludicrous boast: EA had 20 years of experience making mainstream football sims – an expensive and highly sophisticated endeavour. How could Fifa hope to find a studio capable of competing?

Well, it looks as if the global football body may have found its new best friend. Gaming news sites have been reporting on a tweet by Ghanaian retailer MohPlay, claiming that a deal had been struck with 2K Games to make a new Fifa title – perhaps even for release later this year. The tweet, which has had over 200,000 views, seems to confirm an earlier rumour about a partnership between Fifa and 2K.