2K Games and FIFA partnership on new soccer game may be brewing
2K Games and FIFA may be entering a partnership to develop a brand-new soccer game that uses the global soccer association’s licensing, at least according to a hint provided by reliable insider Kurakasis. They’ve recently been correct about the new Sonic Generations and Metro VR games on top of digging out the official title of MachineGames’ upcoming Indiana Jones game, so their credibility is pretty high at the moment.
2K Games is known for publishing sports game series such as NBA 2K and WWE 2K, but has been out of the soccer game arena for years, which has mostly been dominated by EA Sports and Konami with their FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer franchises respectively. However, with the somewhat botched transformation of PES to eFootball and EA not renewing its licensing deal with the global soccer association to continue using the FIFA branding, an opening for 2K to try and return to the discipline may have opened.
2K Games is EA Sports' greatest rival in the sports simulation genre.
2K Games
A potential partnership between 2K and FIFA certainly has been on everyone’s mind ever since EA and its long term partner broke up, though we hadn’t heard anything concrete about it other than FIFA stating that it would continue to invest into games with its official branding.
Back in March 2023, recently re-elected FIFA boss Gianni Infantino infamously said that “the new FIFA game – the FIFA 25, 26, 27 and so on – will always be the best egame for any girl or boy, we will have news on this very soon.”
That promised piece of news has not appeared as of yet and new game releases with the FIFA branding have been sparse – which isn’t a surprise, considering FIFA had reportedly asked EA for $1 billion USD in licensing fees ahead of the break-up. 2K Games is among the very few companies that have both the sports game expertise and the budget to realistically make a FIFA game as fans know it.
Aside from the storied name, a partnership with FIFA would allow 2K Games to make the official video game for the soccer world cup held every four years. This tournament will happen next in 2026 with the United States, Canada, and Mexico hosting it as partners – potentially making it a strong debut opportunity for 2K’s soccer title, since the company’s games usually are very focused on the US.
Again, nothing of this is confirmed, but with Kurakasis’ latest track record and how much sense this partnership makes, the possibility can’t be ignored.
