For more than a decade now, EA's FIFA franchise has had a virtual monopoly in the video game soccer space, overshadowing Pro Evolution Soccer while raking in hundreds of millions dollars from FIFA Ultimate Team. But recent events are putting that dominance under threat, with FIFA issuing a release saying future games "must" involve more than one party.

In the new statement, FIFA pronounced itself "bullish" over "the future of gaming and esports." The statement also appeared to explicitly denounce the current state of the football gaming market, which has been ruled by EA for years now.

"FIFA is bullish and excited about the future in gaming and eSports for football, and it is clear that this needs to be a space that is occupied by more than one party controlling all rights," the statement read.

"Technology and mobile companies are now actively competing to be associated with FIFA, its platforms, and global tournaments. Consequently, FIFA is engaging with various industry players, including developers, investors and analysts, to build out a long-term view of the gaming, eSports and interactive entertainment sector. The outcome will ensure that FIFA has a range of suitable parties with specialist capabilities to actively shape the best possible experiences and offerings for fans and consumers."

This does not necessarily mean the end of EA's soccer franchise as we know it. EA negotiates licensing deals with individual clubs and leagues, and recently inked long-term detail with FIFPRO, a professional soccer association that will give EA access to the names and likenesses of thousands of players around the globe.

Its biggest impact is apt to be on the name itself. FIFA reportedly wants to charge EA $1 billion every four years to continue using its name, which EA has used since the mid-90s. EA is reportedly looking into changing FIFA's name to "EA Sports FC" in response.

FIFA's statement also opens the door for more competition from other major developers. At present, EA's only real competition is Konami's recently-rebranded eFootball, which was disastrously rebooted as a free-to-play release rife with glitches and other problems. 2K Sports and Sony San Diego are two of the other major players in the sports gaming business, though neither of them have shown any interest in jumping into soccer to this point.

In its own statement, EA wrote, "The breadth of our partnerships and our ecosystem of licensed content will enable us to continue to bring unrivaled authenticity in our EA SPORTS football games, now and for many years to come. As we look ahead, we’re also exploring the idea of renaming our global EA SPORTS football games. This means we're reviewing our naming rights agreement with FIFA, which is separate from all our other official partnerships and licenses across the football world."

What happens, it seems like the sports gaming landscape is set to undergo a dramatic shift as stakeholders like FIFA begin to realize just how lucrative EA's games can be. In the meantime, you can read our review of FIFA 22 right here.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN and an unfortunate West Ham supporter

Update 10/15: Epic Games has come out in support of blockchain technology so along as "they follow the relevant laws," according to CEO and founder Tim Sweeney.

Hours after it was reported Steam would ban blockchain-backed games that offer NFT and cryptocurrency, Epic Games has taken the opposite stance and said they are open to blockchain-based games.

In a tweet, Sweeney says, "Epic Games Store will welcome games that make use of blockchain tech provided they follow the relevant laws, disclose their terms, and are age-rated by an appropriate group."

Sweeney says that Epic will not be using crypto in its own games, but welcomes "innovation in the areas of technology and finance."

Epic Games Store will welcome games that make use of blockchain tech provided they follow the relevant laws, disclose their terms, and are age-rated by an appropriate group. Though Epic's not using crypto in our games, we welcome innovation in the areas of technology and finance. https://t.co/6W7hb8zJBw

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) October 15, 2021

Sweeney did Tweet in September that Epic won't touch NFTs "as the whole field is currently tangled up with an intractable mix of scams, interesting decentralized tech foundations, and scams."

Replied:

We aren’t touching NFTs as the whole field is currently tangled up with an intractable mix of scams, interesting decentralized tech foundations, and scams.

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 27, 2021

Still, Sweeney seems to maintain that Epic itself will not be incorporating crypto into its own games and reaffirmed that the technology itself is a "utility whether or not a particular use of it succeeds or fails."

Original Story: Games that feature blockchain technology that allows for the exchange of NFTs or cryptocurrency will no longer be allowed on Steam.

According to a new rule on Steam's partner onboarding page, Valve says distributors shouldn't publish, "applications built on blockchain technology that issue or allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs."

Age of Rust, a game that involves players collecting in-game NFTs, says Steam informed them that they're kicking "all blockchain games off the platform, including Age of Rust, because NFTs have value."

Community: A few minutes ago, we were notified that @Steam will be kicking *all blockchain games* off the platform, including Age of Rust, because NFTs have value. Behind the scenes, we've had good communication and have been upfront with Steam. #blockchaingames #NFT
1/4 pic.twitter.com/W4pR3Xl63q

— Age of Rust (@SpacePirate_io) October 14, 2021

NFT stands for "non-fungible token," and they are digital assets that are sold and bought online. NFTs can take many forms, but they have become increasingly popular as digital art. Artists can create a piece of digital artwork, register it as an NFT, and sell a limited number of them.

You can think of it as building a collection of paintings, trading cards, or other collectibles, only in the digital space. In video games, NFTs could take the form of in-game collectibles, skins, and more.

According to Age of Rust, Steam doesn't want to allow items on the platform that can have real-world value. IGN has reached out to Valve for comment, and we will update this article when we hear back.

For more on Valve, check out our impressions of the Steam Deck, Valve's handheld gaming PC.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

A ton of new content is on the way to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, including a huge DLC expansion. While the NVC crew is excited about the updates, they're less excited about the pricing news for Nintendo Switch Online that came bundled in with the announcement. Join Seth Macy, Peer Schneider, Kat Bailey, and Taylor Lyles as they react to all of today's big announcements. Plus, impressions of the Pokemon Gen 4 remakes, a new segment, and more!

Timecodes:

• 00:00:00 – Welcome!
• 00:02:11 – Nintendo Switch Online's wild new pricing
• 00:16:18 – Animal Crossing Direct!
• 00:27:24 – Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Preview
• 00:36:47 – Kat's Take
• 00:50:05 – Question Block & Outro

New this week!

For an easy way to find NVC on your favorite platform, check out our new NVC Linktree!

You can also Download NVC 582 Directly Here

You can listen to NVC on your preferred platform every Thursday at 3pm PT/6pm ET. Have a question for Question Block? Write to us at [email protected] and we may pick your question! Also, make sure to join the Nintendo Voice Chat Podcast Forums on Facebook. We're all pretty active there and often pull Question Block questions and comments straight from the community.

Logan Plant is the Production Assistant for NVC. You can find him on Twitter at @LoganJPlant.

With DC FanDome 2021 set to kick off tomorrow, The Batman director Matt Reeves offered fans a bit of teaser of what to expect by revealing an official photo of Zoë Kratiz as Catwoman.

"Meet Selina Kyle… See more of her tomorrow at DC FanDome," Reeves wrote in a tweet that quickly went viral.

Meet Selina Kyle… See more of her tomorrow at #DCFanDome #Tomorrow #TheBatmanTrailer #TheBatman pic.twitter.com/uJBI8JsRtJ

— Matt Reeves (@mattreevesLA) October 15, 2021

The image is fairly simple: a shot of Kravitz in a tank top sporting heavy eyeliner. She appears to be looking at someone, possibly Robert Pattinson's Batman, who she referred to as her "partner in crime" early last year.

With a brand new trailer for The Batman set to be shown at DC FanDome tomorrow, the Catwoman reveal is part of the marketing drumbeat leading up to the big event. Earlier today, two new posters were revealed for The Batman, with a short teaser appearing yesterday.

It's a big moment for Batman fans, who have been waiting patiently for their favorite hero to return. Like so many other movies in 2020, The Batman was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. To prepare for the role of Catwoman, Kravitz was forced to train virtually five days a week.

Interestingly, this isn't Kravitz's first turn as Catwoman. She previously portrayed Batman's on-again, off-again foe and love interest in The Lego Batman Movie. We'll get to see how her performance translates to real life when The Batman releases on March 4, 2022.

In the meantime, stay tuned for all of IGN's DC FanDome 2021 coverage, which kicks off tomorrow starting at 9:30am PT/12:30pm ET.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

Lara Croft actress Alicia Vikander says she hopes production for Tomb Raider 2 can "get on track."

In a new interview in Total Film magazine (via comicbook), Vikander said she's been talking with director Misha Green, who is the developer and executive producer of HBO's Lovecraft Country.

"It's so much fun on the Zooms I've had with Misha to finally sit with another woman my own age," Vikander said. "I get to talk about big action set pieces and stunts that we want to make. I'm hoping that we get on track and get to do something together."

The Tomb Raider sequel has hit some turbulence since it was originally announced in 2019. Green joined Tomb Raider 2 as its writer and director back in January, but since then news on the project has stalled. The film would be Green's first time directing a movie.

Prior to Green coming on board, Ben Wheatley was originally reported as director in late 2019. At the time, the movie had a March 19, 2021 release date, but in November 2020, the movie was delayed indefinitely. Tomb Raider 2 disappeared completely from MGM's release calendar, and it still doesn't have a new release date.

We called the original mediocre in our Tomb Raider movie review, saying, "This movie may directly lift many elements from the excellent 2013 video game reboot, but it disappointingly chooses not to adapt what made Lara an interesting and deep character."

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.