This link will take you to an interesting petition against FIFA's current distribution of their license. As we all know, the generous distribution of the NFL, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, and MLB licenses have created competition among games that FIFA just does not have. Is the license exclusivity one reason? Over 100 people think so! Check it out.
Your post has merit. The main knock I've read here and on other sites against soccer videogames other than the FIFA series is in fact that they lack the players/teams real names/crests. There are also people here who bash, say, Konami for its lack of particular teams (usually MLS). I suspect that if the WE series had authentic team and player names, and some MLS teams, EA wouldn't be able to sell FIFA at all. Another interesting point this thread uncovers (well,I hadn't given this one any thought) is that EA's game is actually called FIFA. It would seem that other game developers would have access to the organization's name just like EA does, but obviously that's not the case. It's also interesting that soccer's governing body would allow its name to grace the cover of the worst game of the big three (WE, FIFA and Sony's World Tour Soccer). I'll sign the petition and hope the FIFA name can be used for future Konami games.