Now here's a move that we didn't expect. Following the split from EA, FIFA has announced that it is partnering with one-time rival Konami on a new eSports collaboration.
To be clear, this isn't to say that Konami will be taking over the FIFA license, nor that the studio's current football series, eFootball (formally PES), will be getting a rebrand. Instead, the purpose of this collaboration is to "further boost the joy of the global football community through esports". M-hmm.
How will the partnership start this joy-boosting, exactly? Well, the teams have announced two "World Cups" — or, to give it its official catchy little title, 'FIFAe World Cup™ featuring eFootball™' — for starters, which will take place on mobile and console (PS5 and PS4) this year.
The tournament qualifiers are now live, where hopefuls will have to pass three rounds of eFootball in-game events to stand a chance of representing one of the 18 national teams appearing at the event — the full qualifying conditions are laid out on the Konami website. You'll find the full list of participating countries below:
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Costa Rica
- England
- France
- India
- Indonesia
- Japan
- Korea Republic
- Malaysia
- Morocco
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Portugal
- Saudi Arabia
- Spain
- Thailand
- Türkiye
Of course, the Nintendo Switch won't have a part to play in this tournament. Konami's free-to-play eFootball is only available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, PC and mobile for the time being, but isn't it interesting to see FIFA teaming up with Konami, nonetheless? There was a time when the FIFA and PES series were bitter rivals in the football gaming market, so it does feel a little like the federation has come crawling back with its tail between its legs after EA has left to play on greener pastures.
The latest entry in EA's newly-formed football series, EA Sports FC 25, arrived last month, and we called it "the new best football game on Switch".