In 1993, EA teamed up withFIFAto develop a new soccer game for the Sega Genesis calledFIFA International Soccer. The game was an unprecedented success, as it sold more than 500,000 copies in the first four weeks after its release. Due to it being the first-ever video game to feature theFIFAbranding, EA had already expectedFIFA International Soccerto be a hit, but it exceeded even the company’s lofty sales goals.
FIFA International Soccerbecame the start of what would later be known as theFIFAvideo game franchise, a property which ultimately managed to surpass all of its competitors in popularity. TheFIFAseries has, without a doubt, turned into EA’s most successful sports franchise of all time, with it selling over 325 million copies worldwide as of 2021. In spite of this astounding success, though,EA’s partnership with FIFA abruptly came to an endin 2022, after the publisher announced that year that it would no longer be using the FIFA license in its future games. While EA does still make soccer titles under a new name, theFIFAfranchise is now effectively dead and buried. However, the FIFA branding could still be utilized for games in other ways, namely via Sloclap’sRematch.
Rematch Could Capitalize on EA’s Decision to Abandon the FIFA License
Rematch is One of the Few Modern Non-EA Soccer Games That Actually Found Big Success
Unlike the Sega Genesis era of yesteryear, the number of soccer games on the home console market these days is sorely limited. Although there are a handful of non-EA games in the genre, there aren’t many trueFIFAcompetitors, aside fromKonami’sPro Evolution Soccer(PES) series.PESis still alive and well, but the latest game in the franchise, simply titledeFootball, hasn’t really gained a good reputation among fans. Fortunately,Rematchis one other non-EA soccer game that has become pretty popular lately.
Rematchis the latest and, perhaps, most unexpected project from French developer Sloclap, the creators of themartial arts-inspired action gamesAbsolverandSifu. Unlike the company’s previous works,Rematchis a 5v5 arcadey sports game that has a colorful, stylized art style and is played from a third-person perspective. The game was released just a few weeks ago, but it’s already proven to be quite popular among soccer fans. It sold over one million copies in only a few days, and it reached the 3 million player count mark by July 29, 2025.
Rematchis available via Xbox Game Pass, so not every person who has played the game has necessarily purchased it.
Sloclap Should Add FIFA-Branded Cosmetics to Rematch as Part of a Collaboration Event
SinceRematchhas managed to attract a large audience, it would make a lot of sense for Sloclap to collaborate with FIFA for the game. Although it’s unlikely that the developer would ever rebrandRematchas a FIFA title, it could add some FIFA-branded cosmetics to it. Such a move wouldn’t be completely unprecedented, since Sloclap has already started to introduce collaboration content to the game. In the last couple of weeks, for example,Rematchhas received a Puma-branded cosmetic set, as well as a skin modeled after a real-world soccer player, Marc-André ter Stegen.
Some may scoff at the idea of having to pay for aRematchcosmetic with a FIFA logo on it, but it would probably sell better than many people expect. One of the biggest reasons whyEA’sFIFAserieswas so popular, after all, was because of the FIFA branding itself. FIFA is practically synonymous with soccer/football, especially in Europe, and adding some new cosmetics toRematchas part of a FIFA collaboration event can make the game even more popular than it already is. There probably aren’t going to be any properFIFAvideo games released anytime soon, but aRematchcollab would be the next best thing.
