A new rumor claims that video game publisher 2K has secured the official FIFA license to develop the next FIFA game.
The unverified claims come from retailer @mohplay_inc_, which alleges that "the partnership is confirmed, and 2K will be developing a new football game series."
The retailer also claims, without sharing any source, that "FIFA 2K25 will launch this year, just in time for the FIFA World Cup 2K26!"
Despite the lack of sources, Insider Gaming — a more reputable gaming insider — seemingly corroborated the rumor. The insider also claimed that it was "hearing rumours that FIFA/2K are working to announce a partnership for 2K to make an officially-licensed FIFA game"."
Publisher Electronic Arts parted ways with the world soccer governing body FIFA in 2022 after a nearly three-decade partnership. That didn't necessarily prevent EA from releasing a new soccer game though, they simply couldn't use the FIFA branding.
Electronic Arts went on to release EA Sports FC 24 last year. Despite the new name, it seemed to have no impact on the game's sales. EA reported 11.3 million players in its first week of release, up from the 10.3 million players in the prior year's FIFA 23.
What could have more of an impact, however, is some new competition. Right now, the main competition to EA's soccer series is Konami's eFootball franchise. Many are hoping 2K could bring some legitimate competition to the space.
EA Sports FC 24 has been met with generally favorable reviews among critics — sitting at a 75/100 on Metacritic with 76 critic reviews. The user ratings tell a different story, though. WIth 1,195 user ratings, the game is "generally unfavorable" at 2.3. This isn't necessarily a surprise though as EA's sports games tend to face much more criticism from the general gaming audience.
2K is no stranger to sports having developed the NBA 2K series since 1991. The publisher has also dabbled in wrestling, golf, and even baseball and football. We've never seen a soccer game from them before though, which has many excited about what the publisher could bring to the game.