Game News FIFA 22: Maradona removed from the game, but for what reasons?
Legendary Argentinian footballer who died in 2020, Diego Armando Maradona is obviously a player very popular with football fans, and many have tried to get his card in FIFA 22. Unfortunately this is no longer possible, and we explain why. .
A bad negotiation of the rights in question?
Besides many official teams, FIFA 22 incorporates legendary players which can be obtained and used to play matches, even if their real career is over. Currently, players who launch FIFA 22 experience the appearance of a message, indicating that Maradona has been removed Ultimate Team, Ultimate Draft and Team Aid World XI modes. In this message, Electronic Arts indicates that this disappearance is due has a “legal dispute with a third party”and the value of the card has been frozen until further notice, meaning that players with one should be able to keep it.
We share our fans’ disappointment and hope to bring one of football’s greatest icons back into the game at some point in the future.
But what happened? The publisher remains vague on the reasons for this legal disagreement, but VGC indicates that it could come from a concern related to the management of rights related to Maradona. At the end of 2021, an Argentinian court indicated that the rights had potentially been negotiated with the wrong personand that it was necessary to put all this in order before the player could be available in game. According to the Argentinian site Infobae, EA would have negotiated the rights with Stefano Cecithe former manager of the deceased Ballon d’Or, but the Court considered that the latter had no no legal mandate allowing him to do so.
Maradona’s rights management is a quagmire
All this is part of a larger imbroglio, also involving Matias Morla, Maradona’s lawyer, who for his part claims that his company Sattvica had obtained the rights from the former player before his death. A statement questioned by Maradona’s daughters, who filed a complaint against Sattvica, who had to stop using the player’s image. Faced with this situation, Judge Marcelo Gota said:
It is appropriate to grant the precautionary measure to prevent the use of the trademark in case of alleged infringement of trademark rights. (EA) must submit to the precautionary measure and immediately cease the use of the marks indicated by all means that are implemented. The necessary measure should be adopted, until the rights of each of the parties to the procedure (…) are clarified in order to prevent the infringement of any intellectual property right, where there is a likelihood that any delay causes irreparable harm to the rights holder.
In short, the situation is currently very complex, and forces Electronic Arts to cease all use of Maradona’s image in FIFA 22. No estimate has been given as to the return of the player in the various modes concerned.
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By MalloDelicJournalist jeuxvideo.com
MP