Zlatan Ibrahimovic in dig at FIFA video game franchise
Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has posted what appears to be a dig at the FIFA video game brand on his social channels.
The 39-year-old Swede became just the fourth player in the modern era of Serie A to score in his first six outings of the season when he netted a double against Napoli in a 3-1 win on Sunday.
It was an encounter that ended on a sour note for him as he was forced off with an injury, but it appears that 24 hours on he has a greater concern.
“Who gave EA SPORTS FIFA permission to use my name and face? Fifpro? I’m not aware to be a member of Fifpro and if I am I was put there without any real knowledge through some weird manoeuvre,” he posted.
“And for sure I never allowed FIFA or Fifpro to make money using me. Somebody is making profit on my name and face without any agreement all these years. Time to investigate.”
Given the notoriously playful nature of the veteran attacker, it is difficult to know if he is being serious or light hearted when pointing out this issue.
If this is the beginning of a revolt from players over their images being used in popular video games, however, it promises to usher in a complicated battle for manufacturers.
EA Sports’ FIFA franchise has been one of the leading football video games for 25 years and has only increased in popularity in recent times thanks to the success of FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT), which gives users the opportunity to build a dream squad of players and compete against others in online competition.
In the 2020 financial year, EA Sports boasted a net revenue of $1.49 billion from their Ultimate Team platforms, which include FIFA and NFL game Madden.