For decades, FIFA, the world governing body of soccer, has been one of the best-selling video games in the world. But that arrangement came to an end when Electronic Arts relinquished its license (opens in new tab).

Last month, a FIFA game was announced at Roblox, but this is not made up; there is no soccer, but there is bowling (opens in new tab). And now a press release (opens in new tab) has been issued announcing four new titles. They are all "future-focused Web 3.0 games," and they all look like utter garbage.

According to FIFA, the four games "each offer a unique twist on the world's biggest soccer tournament," and it's hard to argue with that. First up is AI League: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Edition (opens in new tab), a four-on-four team competition in which players "coach" and level up over time.

It is a bit similar to FIFA Ultimate Team in that players can be collected and traded. But you can't play until the tournament is over: you've registered, but all you can do now is predict the outcome of upcoming matches. In other words, if I wanted to do that, I would go to a betting store.

And the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will be held in the Upland metaverse: Upland is one of the star-studded metaverse platforms where players can visit a replica of Qatar's Lusail Stadium and buy various FIFA merchandise The game is a replica of the Qatar Lusail stadium and allows players to buy various FIFA merchandise. Who does this appeal to?

And Matchday Challenge: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Edition is apparently "a very engaging social prediction game based on soccer cards. This also doesn't seem to have launched yet, but as someone who has experienced FUT and Metaverse, it feels like a Wordle-inspired entry.

And Phygtl's FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, a game with an unforgettable name. No, I'm not holding my breath: Phygtl is an AR mobile app that allows users to purchase a worthless piece of digital soccer. A "Golden Glove Football" appears on your phone, allowing fans to buy "a limited fragment of selected FIFA World Cup photos and video moments to attach and eternalize. A digital representation of eternal fandom."

Or a cash grab that fools no one, take your pick. It is worth noting that FIFA, which had to build a new gaming partnership out of nothing, has been taken in by advocates of the Metaverse and Web 3.0. As FIFA's Romy Guy writes, "There is no doubt that Web 3.0 will play an important role as we continue to build our gaming strategy for the future, and this is the beginning of our journey."

When the EA deal fell apart, FIFA president Gianni Infantino ironically declared, "The one constant is the FIFA name, which will remain forever and will remain THE BEST (open in new tab)." However, it is clear that EA has made FIFA look good for many years and that without EA, FIFA would have no idea what it is doing with respect to video games.