When the series began in late 1993, it was notable for being the first to have an official licence from FIFA, the world governing body of football. It is also one of the best-selling video game franchises. The Guardian called the series 'the slickest, most polished and by far the most popular football game around'. As of 2011, the FIFA franchise has been localised into 18 languages and available in 51 countries. Listed in Guinness World Records as the best-selling sports video game franchise in the world, by 2019, the FIFA series had sold over 282.4 million copies. Football video games such as Sensible Soccer, Kick Off and Match Day had been developed since the late 1980s and already competitive in the games market when EA Sports announced a football game as the next addition to their EA Sports label. FIFA is a series of association football simulation video games developed and released annually by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label.
