The leading brand in digital sports entertainment will become the club’s exclusive and official videogame partner for the next three years
FC Barcelona and EA SPORTS have announced today an agreement by which the leading brand in digital sports entertainment will become the club’s exclusive and official videogame partner for the next three years. Through this association, EA SPORTS has performed 3D scans of the faces of such FC Barcelona players as Xavi, Piqué, Fàbregas, Alves and Iniesta to produce stunning, high-quality and authentic models that will be used in FIFA 14, the latest version of the company’s football game, which will be officially released next September.
Barça’s Leo Messi will be the main protagonist of the new version of the game. The Argentinian striker will be appearing on the box cover and will also feature in the global marketing and communication campaign to present the new product. FC Barcelona will also host an exclusive videogame tournament to determine the best FIFA 14 player on the squad. Through this partnership, FC Barcelona and EA SPORTS will also be developing a series of interactive activities to entertain and engage fans both at the Camp Nou and around the world. For example, at selected home matches over the course of the season, the EA SPORTS Dugout, a mobile gaming trailer, will be on-site so fans can play EA SPORTS games.
“We are extremely excited to join a world class football club like Barcelona as an Official Club Partner,” said Matt Bilbey, Senior Vice President and Group General Manager of EA SPORTS. “This is an opportunity for us to create a deeper connection with their passionate, global fan base, and use our games as a platform to engage their supporters all around the world.”
Meanwhile FC Barcelona commercial and marketing director Laurent Colette spoke about how pleased he is with the new agreement. “We are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with EA SPORTS, one of the world's leading sports and entertainment brands, and to create a stronger relationship between our global fan bases” he said. “We hope everyone tries this game and finds out what it is like to be put in the shoes of our stars, and to play like they do on the pitch. I’m sure they’ll have a great time.”
FCB forms part of a series of football clubs that are partnering the brand, including some of the leading teams in Europe’s biggest leagues (Valencia from the Spanish Liga; Tottenham and Manchester City from the English Premier League; Borussia Dortmund from the German Bundesliga; Olympique Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain from Ligue 1 in France, and AC Milan of Italy’s Serie A).
EA SPORTS is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises and award-winning interactive technology. It creates connected experiences that ignite the emotion of sports through industry-leading videogames including Madden NFL football, FIFA, NHL Hockey, NBA Live Basketball, Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf, and many others. FIFA 14, featuring innovations that make the gameplay more authentic and even more fun, will be released on September 24th in the USA and on the 27th in the rest of the world, although it is already available for pre-order on selected platforms such as www.origin.com and other retailers.
For more information and to Pre-order FIFA 14, click here