One of the longest and most popular partnerships in gaming history could come to an end as global football body FIFA has indicated it could end its association with Electronic Arts, developers of the annual EA Sports FIFA video game.

FIFA has licensed its name to the American company since 1993, and the game grew to become one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. In 2021, the FIFA series sold over 325 million copies.

Now, FIFA could end that relationship as it plans to venture into the rapidly growing eSports market on its own.

The current 10-year agreement—for which EA pays nearly $150 million a year—ends with next year’s Qatar World Cup.

“FIFA will adopt a new commercial positioning in gaming and eSports to ensure that it is best placed to make decisions that benefit all football stakeholders,” said a statement on FIFA.com.

“FIFA is bullish and excited about the future in gaming and eSports for football, and it is clear that this needs to be a space that is occupied by more than one party controlling all rights.”

The statement went on to say that it was of “crucial importance” for FIFA and its stakeholders to maximise all future opportunities for football and gaming fans, as eSports is the fastest growing media vertical in the world.

The organisation is expected to launch new offerings using the men’s and women’s World Cups as platforms.

For the last two years, the two parties have been conducting talks to renew the contract and there are reports stating that FIFA was demanding more than double of what it receives from EA Sports. The New York Times has reported that FIFA wants more than $1 billion for every four-year World Cup cycle.

Apart from the financial dispute, talks had also reached a stalemate as FIFA and EA did not agree on what the exclusive rights should include. EA wants the exclusive rights to more ventures such as highlights of actual games and digital products like NFTs.

The two are expected to announce the split formally by the end of this year and are both preparing for life after the iconic partnership.

FIFA says it is now “engaging with various industry players, including developers, investors and analysts, to build out a long-term view of the gaming, esports and interactive entertainment sector”.

Earlier in October, EA had registered two trademarks—in the EU and Britain—for the phrase EA Sports FC.

The split is expected to pit the organisations against each other in the massively growing gaming industry. EA is considered a behemoth in the football gaming sector, and has licensing agreements with more than 300 organisations like UEFA, English Premier League, La Liga and other domestic tournaments around the world.

It could make the two rebranded versions of the game the main competitors in the football gaming market, considering that EA Sports FIFA’s long-time competitor, Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer, is no longer considered to be a competitor after the disastrous rebranding as eFootball.