EA has removed the entire FIFA series from the digital store

EA appears to have removed all FIFA games from its digital store just days before EAS Sports FC 24 is set to launch. ResetEra user nolifebr discovered that all FIFA games prior to "EA Sports FC 24", including last year's "FIFA 23", are not available through stores such as PlayStation Store, Steam and Nintendo eShop.

However, nolifebr also pointed out that technically speaking, "FIFA 23" can still be accessed through EAPlay, which means that if players are subscribers of the service or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (also including EAPlay), they can still play this old work.

EA has yet to make any official statement regarding the removal of the FIFA series from the store, but the company's reasons for doing so are likely related to the same licensing issues that led to the series' rebranding.

In May last year, the FIFA series announced that it would rename its "FIFA" football game to "EA Sports FC" starting in 2023.

Neither EA nor FIFA technically announced the reasons for this change, but reports at the time claimed that FIFA was demanding exorbitant licensing fees from EA, and the studio (reasonably) refused to continue cooperation.

Therefore, this year's new EA football game, which will be released on Friday, will be named "EA Sports FC 24" instead of "FIFA 24". But otherwise, it's the same series, with similar gameplay and art design.

Many FIFA players will likely switch directly to EAS Sports FC 24 upon its release, but the removal of all previous FIFA games from digital stores will undoubtedly be a blow to the collection.