The FIFA era of EA Sports officially ends this month

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 08/10/2025

In 2023, the partnership between EA Sports and FIFA came to an end, and with it, the FIFA game series.

Hence, the awkward ‘EA Sports FC 26’ name for the most recent title. Though many still call it FIFA.

However, the FIFA era is officially over as EA is closing the online servers for the last FIFA game.

The EA Services update page has revealed that FIFA 23 will shut down its servers on October 30, 2025.

As a result, online FIFA 23 modes won’t be available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

This means no Ultimate Team, Pro Clubs, Online Co-op, or other online features will be available for the game, which was released only three years ago.

Though Career Mode and Kick Off will still work offline, and players will still be able to use AFC Richmond from the hit Ted Lasso TV series.

Closure of this server brings into question the ownership of purchased games, which has been highlighted by the Stop Killing Games (SKG) movement.

The campaign has effectively petitioned for old games to remain online, to the point that SGK will be debated in UK parliament on November 3rd.

Lack of national teams in EA FC 26

Other than the awkward name, the EA FC franchise hasn’t been too affected by the loss of FIFA.

EA FC 26 has over 300 football partnerships with more than 750 licensed clubs and over 20,000 professional athletes.

However, the end of the partnership does seem to have had an impact on international team licensing.

EA FC 26 doesn’t have enough national teams for a World Cup, with only 28 teams in the game.

This is especially frustrating with the 2026 World Cup coming up at the end of the season, and most of the fan base is awaiting related content.

Will FIFA make a new game?

The partnership between EA Sports and FIFA lasted for almost two decades. From FIFA International Soccer in 1993 until FIFA 23.

Since then, the football governing body has looked to get back into the gaming industry.

FIFA partnered with developers Mythical Games to release the mobile game, FIFA Rivals, earlier this Summer.

And, there have been long-running rumours that FIFA are looking to partner with 2K Games to release another AAA sports game.

This would mean a third major football game could compete with the likes of EA FC and Konami’s eFootball.

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

In my seven years of esports writing, I've introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I'm most proud of the latter.

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