US Business

One of the biggest franchises in video game history is coming to an end on Friday with the release of FIFA 23, the final installment of a football game that has entranced millions of fans for the past three decades.

US game maker Electronic Arts (EA) and global football body FIFA spent months negotiating over the licensing agreement that has underpinned the game since its first edition in 1993.

But they confirmed the split in May when FIFA said it would be seeking other partners and EA said it would rebrand its game as “EA Sports FC” from next year.

For the final version, EA has included women’s club teams for the first time — though only from England and France — several years after it introduced women players.

Australian superstar Sam Kerr, who plays in the English league, is on the game’s cover along with French World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe.

“It is — and remains — one of the most popular franchises in all of gaming,” said Tom Wijman of Newzoo, a firm that analyses data on the industry.

The decoupling is risky for both EA and FIFA, with neither guaranteed success from their new ventures.

But analysts say EA is in a stronger position after spending 30 years developing and marketing the game.

The firm said last year that FIFA had sold more than 325 million copies over its three decades — reportedly generating more than $20 billion in sales.

– ‘Out on a high’ – 

Gamers were less bothered about the corporate fallout and just wanted to play the latest version of the game.

Professional eSports players — some of whom earn hundreds of thousands of dollars for playing the game — queued up to livestream their first attempts.

“One of my favourite videos ever,” tweeted Donovan Hunt, one of the most successful eSports players, linking to a YouTube video of his first try.

Swedish gamer Olle Arbin livestreamed his first attempt for 12 hours on Wednesday.

Reviewers have been impressed by the game’s improvements in graphics since the last edition, and praised additional features such as a “power shot” for giving gameplay another dimension.

“FIFA 23 sees the series bow out on a high, and provides encouraging signs for the debut of EA Sports FC this time next year,” wrote Ben Wilson on the specialist site GamesRadar.

– ‘Risky endeavour’ –

The video game industry, estimated to be worth around $300 billion a year, has become increasingly cutthroat in recent years with the biggest companies buying up many of their competitors.

EA had a turnover of $5.6 billion last year, making it one of the biggest game makers that remains outside the grasp of the four giants — Tencent, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.

The end of the deal with FIFA came after the football body reportedly raised its licensing fee demand from $150 million a year to $250 million — bring the total for the mooted four-year contract to $1 billion.

EA will lose the right to use the FIFA name and competitions such as the World Cup, but it can still use player names and non-FIFA competitions such as the English Premier League — a key advantage over its rivals.

However, the firm was already pivoting increasingly towards club competitions, both on and off screen.

It is taking on a five-year sponsorship deal of Spain’s top-flight La Liga next year, for a reported 30 to 40 million euros a year.

Newzoo’s Wijman said “EA Sports FC” has a good chance of success.

“Losing the FIFA brand may hurt EA’s chances somewhat, but they have the game engine, development teams, marketing expertise, and branding expertise,” he said.

FIFA could struggle to attract potential parters after its reported $1 billion demand, Wijman said.

It would be a “risky endeavour”, he said, “in any circumstance, but especially if you then have to compete with EA to build the most popular football game”.

French schools, trains and businesses are set to be affected Thursday by the first major strike called since the re-election of President Emmanuel Macron in April, as unions push for wage hikes and the end of planned pension reform.

The extent of disruption remains uncertain, however, with the strike a test for the CGT union behind the protests, which is seeking to build support for a lengthy battle with the centrist government.

Macron has approved wage hikes for civil servants and teachers and put in place one of Europe’s most generous anti-inflation safety nets that has capped energy prices for households and held down inflation.

But his insistence on raising the retirement age from its current level of 62 — one of his main re-election campaign pledges — has stirred up unions and other left-wing opponents and remains broadly unpopular around the country.

“We are against pushing back the age of retirement because we consider it an aberration when there are so many unemployed people in this country,” Philippe Martinez, the head of the CGT, told the BFM broadcaster on Tuesday.

“Keeping people with work in their work means that people who haven’t got any can’t find it,” he added.

Despite warnings from allies about the risk of failure, Macron has tasked his government with hiking the retirement age from the current age of 62, one of the lowest in Europe, with changes set to take effect next year.

With deficits spiralling and public debt at historic highs, the former investment banker has argued that pushing back pensions and getting more people into jobs are the only ways the state can raise revenue without increasing taxes. 

His centrist party lost its majority in parliament in June, severely undermining his ability to push through changes. 

“If the president insists on declaring a social war on the people, we will respond with all the means at our disposal,” the parliamentary leader of the France Unbowed (LFI) political party, Mathilde Panot, tweeted on Wednesday.

– Stoppages – 

Thursday’s strike has been called by the CGT, France’s second-biggest union, with backing from smaller partners Solidaires and FSU.

The influential CFDT and hard-left FO unions have declined to take part, underlining splits in the country’s once formidable labour movement which has struggled to stop Macron’s economic and social security reforms since he came to power in 2017. 

Around one in 10 schools in Paris are expected to shut for the day on Thursday, while 300 will close in the southern Bouches-du-Rhone area which includes Marseille.

“We can really see that teachers are fed up with their salaries… if on top of that, there’s the issue of pensions, it risks creating some sparks,” said Guislaine David from the Snuipp-FSU union. 

SNCF railways and the RATP metro system in Paris are also bracing for disruption to services, while employees of oil and gas giant TotalEnergies have been on strike since Tuesday.

Despite anger over the soaring cost of living, Macron is in a hurry to push through pension reform, which he first promised in 2017 before pausing in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I don’t know anyone who wants to work for longer, but I don’t know anyone who thinks they are not going to work for longer,” a minister close to the president told AFP last week on condition of anonymity.

“Maybe I’m mistaken, but I’m not sure that the turnout will be as large as the unions and LFI are hoping for,” the minister said.

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Hong Kong confirmed Thursday it will host an international banking summit in early November, days after it lifted mandatory quarantine rules for arrivals that have battered the city’s reputation as a business hub.

The city has had a difficult three years, with a sweeping crackdown on political freedoms and the imposition of some of the world’s strictest coronavirus pandemic controls, which have kept the city isolated even as competitors reopen.

The banking summit on November 2 is expected to draw 200 participants, including the group chairmen or Chief Executive Officers of 30 major financial institutions, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).

HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue wrote in a blog post that the event would allow guests to “meet their staff and clients in person, and establish new relationships”, now that travel to Hong Kong has become easier.

“For most of them this will only be a short visit and we need to make sure they can meet people, do business and build relationships in the kind of business-as-usual way they expect from a vibrant international city,” Yue added.

The gathering will include panel talks featuring Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, as well as top executives from JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock, UBS and KKR, according to the HKMA.

Hong Kong last week scrapped mandatory hotel quarantine for travellers after two-and-a-half years, amid concerns of brain drain and losing business to rivals like Singapore and London, which reopened to the world once their populations were adequately vaccinated.

But the city still adheres to a version of China’s zero-Covid strategy and has kept some pandemic restrictions in place, including social distancing, business hours limitations and compulsory masking.

Arrivals in the city no longer have to quarantine in hotels, but they cannot enter restaurants or bars for three days after landing and must undergo regular testing. 

Those who test positive face being isolated in hotel rooms at their own expense.

It is unclear if summit participants will be exempt from the pandemic restrictions, and the HKMA said Thursday that it was working to “finalise an appropriate set of arrangements”.

HSBC Chief Executive Noel Quinn and Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters were among the banking industry leaders who previously committed to attending the Hong Kong summit in person.

Asian stocks rallied Thursday as UK and US government yields fell after the Bank of England jumped into bond markets to prevent a fresh financial catastrophe.

However, the pound — which earlier this week hit a record low against the dollar — struggled to hold its advance against the greenback, with commentators warning it could face further pain.

Financial markets are being hammered as central banks around the world ramp up interest rates to tackle runaway inflation, fuelling worries about a recession and a possible hit to company profits.

And the selling picked up this week after new UK finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng unveiled a tax-cutting mini-budget Friday, which many experts including the International Monetary Fund warned would fan borrowing and deal a further blow to the already fragile economy.

The spending plan sent yields on UK government bonds, as well as those of other countries, soaring and raised the prospect of even bigger interest rate hikes.

That led the Bank of England on Wednesday to announce a two-week programme to spend £65 billion ($71 billion) buying long-dated UK bonds “to restore orderly market conditions”.

The move meant the BoE had to suspend a programme to sell “gilts” as part of its drive to fight inflation, though analysts speculated that it could give traders some hope that similar support could be provided elsewhere.

National Australia Bank’s Ray Attrill said traders had grown accustomed to the fact that central banks were not ready to simply help asset markets when they drop in response to inflation-fighting measures.

But now there was an understanding that “when markets become dysfunctional with potential real world economic consequences, central banks’ financial stability obligations can still kick in”.

All three main indexes on Wall Street surged around two percent Wednesday, while European markets were also up.

And Asia extended the gains, though the initial surge was beginning to wane as the day wore on.

Hong Kong, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Wellington and Manila were all up more than one percent, while Tokyo, Shanghai, Taipei and Jakarta were also in positive territory.

However, the pound was weakening again sitting just below $1.0800, having spiked at $1.0900 earlier, as the dollar remained the go-to unit owing to Fed plans to lift rates further this year.

OANDA’s Edward Moya warned of more rough seas for sterling.

“The British pound went on a little roller coaster ride following the BoE action to buy unlimited long-dated gilts, but will still probably remain heavy over the country’s fiscal situation, current account deficit, financial stability risks, and energy poverty likelihood for parts of the population,” he said in a note.

The uptick across markets, however, was rare and the general mood on trading floors remains dark as the Fed and other central banks zero in on hiking borrowing costs to fight decades-high inflation.

“All eyes are on inflation and interest rates,” said Josh Emanuel at Wilshire. “Equities are really going to take their cues from bond markets. So if you see bond yields move lower, that is a good sign for equities.”

And Julia Raiskin, at Citigroup, added that “markets are very pessimistic… Other than the dollar, there are not many assets that are trading constructively.”

– Key figures at around 0230 GMT –

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 26,238.32 (break)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.3 percent at 17,477.77

Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,060.83

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.0789 from $1.0889 on Wednesday

Euro/dollar: UP at $0.9638 from $0.9735

Euro/pound: UP at 89.68 from 89.39 pence 

Dollar/yen: UP at 144.30 yen from 144.11 yen

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.4 percent at $81.84 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 0.4 percent at $89.00 per barrel

New York – Dow: UP 1.9 percent at 29,683.74 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 7,005.39 (close)

Luxury sports carmaker Porsche will debut on the Frankfurt stock exchange Thursday in one of Europe’s biggest listings in years, hoping its brand power can attract investors despite market turbulence.

Even as stocks worldwide suffer from surging inflation and mounting recession fears, the maker of the 911 sports car is pushing ahead with the blockbuster flotation.

The initial public offering (IPO) has generated buzz in Porsche’s home market of Germany, where top tabloid Bild described it as “crazy, cool, fast-paced”.

“On Thursday, sports car icon Porsche goes full throttle and races onto the stock market,” read a column in the paper.

“It will be the largest IPO in Germany for decades!”

Parent company Volkswagen is set to raise 9.4 billion euros ($9.2 billion) from the listing. Porsche’s shares will each be issued at 82.50 euros — the top end of an initial range — which gives the carmaker a valuation of 75 billion euros.

Some of the cash raised will be ploughed into Volkswagen’s high-speed drive towards electric vehicles, which has brought the legacy carmaker into more direct competition with US rival Tesla.

In terms of value of shares issued, Porsche’s is set to be the biggest stock market debut in Germany since Deutsche Telekom’s in 1996, and the largest in Europe since the 2011 flotation of Switzerland-based commodities giant Glencore.

– ‘Car market catalyst’ –

Analysts are looking to the carmaker’s market entry for some cheer against a morose economic backdrop, with investment bank Berenberg saying it could “offer a catalyst in an industry sorely lacking positive surprises”. 

It has generated interest from major investors, including Qatar and Abu Dhabi’s public investment funds, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund and US asset management firm T. Rowe Price. 

But German automotive expert Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer cautioned “it is not the best time for an IPO”, noting the Frankfurt stock market had fallen heavily since the start of the year.

But he said the conditions did exist for Porsche’s listing to be a success, and it would be “exciting to see how it develops in a difficult economic environment”.

The IPO will see 113.9 million shares of “Porsche AG” issued.

The carmaker’s valuation will be below some earlier estimates — but should still catapult it above rivals such as BMW, with a valuation of 47 billion euros, and Mercedes-Benz, with a 56-billion-euro capitalisation.

– Electric drive –

Porsche has joined the electric drive of the Volkswagen group, whose brands also include Audi and Skoda, in earnest. 

The electric “Taycan” has been the brand’s best-selling model since January, an electric version of the “Macan” is due in 2024, as well as the launch of a new SUV in the middle of the decade.

The electric strategy includes building battery factories across Europe and the US. Volkswagen announced this week it will work with Belgian group Umicore to produce battery materials. 

The IPO will see preferential shares sold to investors, which have no voting rights, while Volkswagen will also sell 25 percent of the carmaker to Porsche SE. 

The eponymous company is a listed holding controlled by the Porsche-Piech family, who in turn are the main shareholders in Volkswagen.

This means that Porsche SE will have a blocking minority that will allow it to steer the future of the company.

Volkswagen hopes that listing a minority stake in Porsche will push up its own stock market value, which is 85 billion euros — just a fraction of Tesla’s, at just over $900 billion.

Apple on Wednesday confirmed that it removed popular Russian social network VKontakte from its App Store globally due to sanctions imposed by Britain.

The British government on Monday sanctioned 92 Russian individuals and entities after President Vladimir Putin’s regime held referendums in Moscow-controlled areas of Ukraine — denounced by Kyiv and its allies as a “sham” — and stepped up threats against the West.

“Sham referendums held at the barrel of a gun cannot be free or fair and we will never recognize their results,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement.

The sanctions target “those behind these sham votes, as well as the individuals that continue to prop up the Russian regime’s war of aggression,” he said.

San Petersburg-based tech firm VK said in a blog post that some of its applications were no longer available from the App Store, which serves as the lone gateway for content onto Apple mobile devices.

VK apps are used for messaging, digital payments and grocery shopping as well as social networking.

The VK apps removed from the App Store were being distributed by developers controlled or majority-owned by parties sanctioned by the UK government, and Apple is complying with the law, according to the Silicon Valley tech giant.

Apple said that it terminated developer accounts associated with the apps, which were not available from the App Store regardless of users’ locations.

People who have already installed the apps on devices can still use them, but updates will no longer be provided through the App Store, according to Apple and VK.

“Their core functionality will be familiar and stable,” VKontakte-parent VK said of the apps.

“There may be difficulties with the work of notifications and payments.”

French designer Olivier Rousteing pulled out all the stops on Wednesday in his latest collection for Balmain at Paris Fashion Week, closing his show with US star Cher on the catwalk.

The show began with Cher on a screen, saying: “All of us invent ourselves. Some of us just have more imagination than others.”

But that was only a teaser before Cher appeared in person with her 1999 hit “Strong Enough” booming around the event at a rugby stadium.

Dubbed the “Balmain Festival”, Rousteing unveiled his designs with clear African influences and mythological references including Apollo and Venus.

A particularly poignant moment during the finale came when black models walked down in a variety of textured dresses, some with the corseted look Rousteing favours and a song by Youssou N’Dour featuring the lyrics: “And when a child is born into this world, it has no concept, of the tone the skin is living in.”

After the show ended, the rising Nigerian star of Afrobeats, Ckay, performed on stage for thousands attending the event. 

The devil was in the detail, with straw dresses as well as models wearing large gold earrings, large-brimmed hats and necklaces almost completely covering the neck, while others had nose rings.

The glamour oozed at the Balmain event, with celebrities attending including US singer and actor Dove Cameron, Belgian artist Stromae and American reality TV star and close friend of Rousteing, Kylie Jenner.

There were stars on the catwalk too with famous American plus-size model Ashley Graham modelling one of Rousteing’s creations.

Rousteing, 37, has been artistic director at Balmain since 2011 and is known for pushing the brand into new territory and working with celebrities such as Jenner and her famous half-sister Kim Kardashian.

As cosmetics becomes an ever-bigger industry, Balmain this week announced plans to launch a beauty line as part of a partnership with Estee Lauder.