The globally popular FIFA video game series, which has sold more than 300 million copies over three decades, will be renamed next year as the game’s publisher EA has announced a split with football’s governing body.

But the most significant changes could come not from the loss of the license, but from EA’s increased freedom to take the game beyond FIFA’s strict view of the sport.

This year’s FIFA 23, which is expected to be released in September, will include teams and players from next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand. And, according to EA, it will feature more teams, players and modes than ever before. It will follow 30 years of consecutive games, which have come out like clockwork since 1993.

Next year’s game will drop the FIFA branding entirely and will be called EA Sports FC. That means this year’s entry will be a final hurrah for World Cup content in the games, but EA CEO Andrew Wilson said players should expect more real-life elements in the games going forward, not less.

“We really made this decision on the basis of being able to deliver experiences that our players wanted,” he said during the company’s earnings call on Wednesday morning.

“They told us they wanted more modalities of play. They told us they wanted to see more commercial partners in the game that are representative and authentic to the broad global world of football.”

In a blog post announcing the name change, EA said it was retaining its licensing arrangements with more than 19,000 players, 700 teams, 100 stadiums and 30 leagues.

An Australian EA representative confirmed all current Australian clubs and players would make it across from FIFA 23 to EA Sports FC.

So what is likely to change?