If you’ve been wondering what happened to the FIFA licence after its departure from EA, you now have the answer. FIFA Heroes has just been announced today, a 5-a-side football game starring several official FIFA mascots.
These mascots, presented in the announce trailer absent from gameplay footage, are cartoony representatives from three major countries. These include Clutch the eagle from the USA, Zayu the jaguar from Mexico, and of course Maple the moose from Canada.
These mascots will, according to the official press release coinciding with the announcement trailer, have their own “super abilities and special moves” in FIFA Heroes. Players will be able to play in PvE matches as well as online PvP, of course.
Christian Volk, Director of Gaming and eSports at FIFA, wrote in the FIFA Heroes press release: “At FIFA, uniting people through the love of football has always been our priority. With FIFA Heroes, fans can create a multiverse team: mixing their treasured fictional heroes, favourite players, and our own mascots. We’re offering the love of football to a new generation, while rekindling the nostalgia and fun for families and older players who’ve grown up with FIFA. FIFA Heroes fits seamlessly into our digital football portfolio under the FIFAe umbrella, adding another strong pillar to our fast-growing gaming ecosystem.”
Maybe it’ll be good, but it’s a significant departure from FIFA’s previous incarnation within the video game industry. The old FIFA series, now EAFC, had built itself a sizable market share of the sports genre with its realistic depiction of football and its many professional players. FIFA Heroes, on the other hand, is taking the polar opposite approach.
FIFA Heroes will be available in 2026, though the specific date remains unknown. It’ll be available on mobile, Xbox, PlayStation, and the Nintendo Switch.
The news comes this week as EA releases its latest EA FC game, EAFC26. The game appears to be going down well among its fan-base, retaining much of the merits of the series’ prior EAFC titles as well as the FIFA series. EA parted with the FIFA brand back in 2022, but has remained the most popular football series despite the brand shift..
