Two soccer teams in Spain’s top tier La Liga were forced to pull out of a charityFIFAevent because of a Konami exclusivity deal. The battle for La Liga rights is one of the most important fights between Konami and EA, as Konami has signed promotional deals with several teams while EA hasadded more player likenesses and stadiumsto its series.
On Twitter, Sports Journalist Samuel Marsden revealed why Barcelona and Mallorca were unable to play in the La Liga Santander Challenge for charity. The fundraiser, which was won by Real Madrid player Marco Asensio, let professional players from La Liga teams playFIFAin an aim to raise money to help in the fight against Covid-19. It made more than $150,000 for UNICEF, which is much less thanwhat EA makes from the seriesbut still a huge amount of money. However, Barcelona player Sergi Roberto and Mallorca player Alejandro Pozo forfeited their games, meaning that just 18 of the 20 La Liga teams were part of the charity tournament.
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Marsden says that this is because of the promotional deal that Mallorca and Barcelona have with Konami andPro Evolution Soccer. This deal allows Konami to use the teams and the player likenesses to promotePESthough they can feature inFIFA.
These deals aren’t uncommon–FIFA 19had former Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo on the cover, while PES has put Barcelona player Lionel Messi on the front. What is controversial though is that the teams were unable to be in the charity tournament because of the Konami deal.
Konami has said that it “did not reach out to the teams and ask them to pull out of the tournaments” but some are wondering why it was unable to talk to the teams to provide reprieve from the contract, just for the weekend. With Covid-19 officially a global pandemic that has seen severalgaming companies attempt to raise money, Konami would likely have been seen as a company doing its bit to help.
What has happened is that Konami is facing criticism for failing to step in. Many gamers are now bringing upKonami’s reported treatment of Hideo Kojima, who was unable to receive an award at The Game Awards 2015 after a messy split from the company. The fault may belong to Barcelona and Mallorca’s organizations, as they may have been the ones to stop their players from playing in the tournament, but it now seems to be doing damage to Konami’s brand.
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