Take-Two Interactive has opened a new Vancouver-based studio stuffed with EA Sports FC and FIFA veterans, as it looks to ‘redefine the future’ of sports games.
A decade or so ago, there were two major football sims competing for people’s attention: FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer.
Nowadays, Pro Evolution Soccer developer Konami barely exists in the same breath, with its free-to-play successor eFootball failing to make an impact. As such, EA Sports FC (rebranded after EA refused to keep paying for the name) has dominated the market over the past few years.
However, it seems a potential rival might be cooking at 2K, who have announced an ‘ambitious’ new sports studio led by a number of EA Sports FC veterans.
As outlined on a LinkedIn post, Small Axe Studios is building 2K’s ‘next blockbuster sports franchise’, adding: ‘The studio combines the passion of a startup with the scale of 2K to redefine the future of sports video games.’
The studio is led by Aaron McHardy, who previously served as an executive producer at EA Vancouver across EA Sports FC, Madden, and EA College Football. He worked at EA for almost 18 years.
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As McHardy outlined on LinkedIn, the studio is developing a AAA sports game, adding: ‘This studio exists to take on the industry’s boldest challenges, and our name reflects that: with vision, hunger, and focus, a small axe can take down a big tree.’
There’s no mention of what sport exactly, but it’s not hard to read between the lines. The studio’s logo looks like a football club badge on a shirt, and many of the other developers have history with football games.
As listed on the studio’s website, the team’s head of design Gary Paterson previously worked on EA Sports FC/FIFA, FIFA Manager, and FIFA Street. Meanwhile, Tom Pan, Small Axe’s head of operations, last worked as Group Development Director at EA on FIFA games.
Since FIFA ended its partnership with EA in 2023, it’s teamed up with developers teams on officially licensed titles: the arcade style mobile app FIFA Heroes and FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition for Netflix. Defactor Games, developer on FIFA World Cup, has since had 85% of its workforce cut and its funding pulled.
For years Take-Two has been rumoured to be in talks with FIFA, about using the name for a new football game, but although at first he seemed to hint it was a possibility, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick downplayed the idea in 2024, saying there are various issues around obtaining the license.
All you get from partnering with FIFA is the use of its name and the World Cup, with all the players and clubs having to be licensed separately via other companies – which is why EA said no to paying FIFA $1 billion and why after the named change EA Sports FC was still essentially the same game.
‘I would just note with regards to the FIFA license, it does not bring along with it rights; it doesn’t come along with players, teams, or leagues,’ Zelnick said. ‘So it’s not as simple, for example, as negotiating with the NFL, or the NBA, or MLB, where at most you have to negotiate with a league and a player’s association.
‘So anyone who would want to compete in the straight ahead sim environment for soccer… you wouldn’t just have to address one particular brand license, there’s a whole lot more than that.’
As such, it’s unclear if 2K has worked out a partnership with FIFA, if it’s potentially creating a competitor to EA Sports FC by itself, or working on something else entirely.
If the studio has only just been announced however, any rival game will likely be a few years away. EA Sports FC 27, meanwhile, is set to launch on September 25, 2026.
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