According to EA, FIFA 23 will be released on September 30 and will include women’s clubs for the first time, same-generation cross-play, World Cup DLC, and more.
EA’s final FIFA game will feature both the UK’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League and France’s Division 1 Arkema, as revealed on its official website and in a new trailer (below), allowing players to take on the role of cover star Sam Kerr.
Like the testing in the last iteration, FIFA 23 will also provide cross-play at launch, but there are some restrictions. The same generation of consoles can only be used for cooperative play, so Xbox One or Play Station4 users can only play against other Xbox One or PlayStation 4 users. Players on PC (and Google Stadia) will share a pool with those using the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series (X and S).
Additionally, only FIFA Ultimate Team’s Compete a Friend feature and online friends allow friends to play against one another. Only online matchmaking allows cross-play in the other modes, which include FUT Online Friendlies, Online Seasons, FUT Rivals, FUT Champions, and FUT Online Draft. Players have the option to completely opt out of cross-play, in which case they will only ever interact with other users of the same platform.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will both be added to the game through future free DLC, according to EA. Although the DLC’s release date was not specified, the world cups will begin in November 2022 and July 2023, respectively.
Through its new HyperMotion 2 technology, which incorporates 6,000 distinct animations to make players move more authentically than ever before, FIFA 23 also claims to deliver greater realism and control than ever before.
But since EA is re-releasing FIFA 19 with updated players, kits, and squads, the new women’s clubs, and a few new venues but no “new development or substantial advancements,” neither this technology nor cross-play will be available on the Nintendo Switch version.
EA promised further details on gameplay elements on July 27, Career Mode on August 1, Matchday Experience on August 5, Pro Clubs and Volta on August 8, and FIFA Ultimate Team on August 11. Additional disclosures will be made in the lead-up to the game’s September release date.
