It seems FIFA will always be FIFA, despite not being called FIFA anymore. There was some concern over EA Sports FC 24 and its ditching of the deeply ingrained branding, but evidence is piling up to suggest that EA's football sim is still just as popular as ever — or thereabouts.
Indeed, the publisher has revealed that 11.3 million players got stuck in during the game's first week on the market. Now, that's obviously not the same as direct sales figures, but it's enough to suggest that the new title's performing just fine on a commercial level.
What's more, "new players in FC 24 are up nearly 20% year over year", according to EA Sports president Cam Weber. It's unclear what exactly makes a "new player" — those who didn't play FIFA 23, we assume — but we suppose it's an interesting detail. Did the name change partly convince lapsed players to come back? Or maybe brand new players saw it as a fresh start for the franchise? We do wonder.