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For many people around the world, the letters Fifa represent the hugely popular video game, rather than real life football.

But the partnership between Fifa, which is football's governing body, and Electronic Arts (EA), the video game makers, is now at risk.

A report by the newspaper the New York Times has revealed that EA and Fifa have not been able to come to an agreement during two years of talks.

The talks between the two organisations involve renewing a contract that allows EA Sports to use the Fifa name.

It means that when the current 10-year agreement finishes after next year's World Cup in Qatar, future Fifa video games might not have the name Fifa in the title at all.

In a letter released last week by Cam Weber, executive president and general manager of EA Sports, he said that his team are looking at the possibility of "renaming" the game.

"As we look ahead," Weber said, "we're also exploring the idea of renaming our global EA Sports football games."

Electronic Arts has already registered the name EA Sports FC, which hints at a possible title for future games.

Since the partnership between EA Sports and Fifa began nearly 30 years ago, the Fifa video game has grown to become the most dominant and popular football game available. It's also one of the most profitable.

Last year's edition, Fifa 21, sold 325 million versions worldwide, outselling its closest competitor Pro Evolution Soccer by nearly three times.

Meanwhile, Fifa 22 has sold even faster than last year's game in the first few weeks since it was released at the start of October.

Sales of the game, which releases an updated version every year, have made over $20 billion (£15bn) over the past 20 years.

The game's ability to make money has grown through things such as the so-called 'loot boxes' or player packs.

In the game-mode known as Ultimate Team, players are required to spend actual money to buy and collect Fifa's best footballers in the game. The feature is thought to have been worth as much as $1.2 billion (£874m) to EA last year.

The deal is valuable to Fifa as an organisation too. The licensing agreement has grown to become their most valuable commercial partnership, now worth about $150 million (£109m) every year.

But now all of that could be about to end.

In the report by the New York Times, the paper revealed that in negotiations Fifa asked for more than double the amount of money EA usually pays to use their name and licences, at a cost of more than $1 billion (£729m) every four years.

The New York Times says Fifa also wants to be able to sell its name and licences to other video games that aren't sports titles, mentioning Fortnite as an example.

Not only that but Fifa wants to limit the partnership with EA to things that are included within the video game only.

Whereas EA wants to be able to use the Fifa name to show real life game highlights, video game tournaments, and to sell NFTs (non-fungible tokens) - a unique digital certificate that proves ownership of online content.

So far, both Fifa and EA Sports have declined to comment on the talks.

If the partnership with Fifa ends, a new game, possibly titled EA Sports FC will no longer be able to include official Fifa tournaments such as the World Cup.

However, EA has more than 300 other similar licensing agreements with organisations such as Uefa, which runs the Champions League.

There are also agreements with domestic leagues and competitions such as England's Premier League and FA Cup. Those deals allow EA to use the names and likenesses of players, world-famous club teams, leagues and cups.

And all of that is likely to continue in a new game, regardless of whether it's called Fifa or not.