EA Sports FC hits 14.5M accounts in first month sans FIFA brand

The newly rebranded EA Sports FC registered 14.5 million active accounts in its first four weeks according to Electronic Arts’ latest earnings report. In comparison, FIFA 23 reached 10.3 million players in its first week.

In 2022, FIFA and EA had a falling out when the global soccer/football governing body reportedly wanted $1 billion for franchise’s naming rights. The video game developer declined, hence the EA Sports FC rebrand. While the time period isn’t the same, it’s safe to say that fans returned regardless of the change in branding.

“They maintained revenue guidance, but increased EPS guidance by 25 cents a share, so the clear takeaway is that they are saving more from not paying FIFA a license fee than they had to spend to drive awareness of the re-branded EA Sports FC game,” said Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush.

According to the earnings report, EA Sports’ soccer franchise outperformed Q2 expectations. However, this also includes continued earnings from FIFA 23.

In its September data, research firm Circana reported EA Sports FC 24 was the third best selling title that month. It fell just short of Starfield and Mortal Kombat 1. However, this data only includes the first two days of its sales since the game released on September 29.

For the year to date, EA Sports FC was the fourteenth best selling title. It fell short of of Madden NFL 24 and MLB: The Show 23 which hold third and tenth respectively.

October’s data could see a major shift that will include more of the soccer sim’s launch window. According to Mat Piscatella, Circana’s executive producer for games reports, EA Sports FC saw double-digit growth across both units and dollars compared to FIFA 23’s launch month. Alongside its earnings report, this is another sign that the game developer made the right call.