FIFA 15, the world's leading gaming franchise, will not feature Brazilian teams. EA Sports, the game's producer, announced the decision in an official statement this Wednesday.
"The absence of national clubs and stars is mainly due to some changes in the licensing process in Brazil. Therefore, EA was unable to reach an agreement with the players' rights holders, and consequently, they will not be included in FIFA 15, and their respective clubs from the Brazilian league are also absent," the statement reads.
However, EA Sports has announced that it will retain the rights to the Brazilian national team. This means the CBF team will be able to have official crests and uniforms in the new version of the game.
The production company announced last week that it will have the rights to the Italian Serie A with official shields and logos.
FIFA has been the franchise that most "valued" Brazilian soccer. Since the 1990s, the game has featured local teams. In 2013, the game featured all teams from Série A, plus Palmeiras, which was playing in the second division at the time.
FIFA 15 has promised more league and licensing announcements on August 13. The game will be released for PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 on September 25.
FIFA's main competitor, Pro Evolution Soccer 2015, will continue to feature Brazilian teams. The European manager of Konami, PES's producer, even took to Twitter to quip. "Anyway, Brazilian teams are cool in PES," he posted.
Source: ESPN
