It’s been a bit since we’ve received some major FIFA news. Apart from the usual patches and title updates, the last bit of news we received about FIFA was regarding whether or not EA would continue to use the “FIFA” brand name, with Cam Weber all but confirming this in a press release. We’ve covered this before on OS, and the general consensus is that the “FIFA” brand name is just a name. Due to the popularity of the franchise, EA could easily shift to something akin to “EA Sports FC” without alienating the majority of its base.
FIFA 23 Rumors
FIFA Brand Name
The ramifications of the name change extend to more than just what the next game will be called. The “FIFA” brand name license comes with the additional perks of being allowed to replicate the most popular sporting event in the world, the World Cup, as well as the FIFA Club World Cup. With the news that EA will continue with the FIFA name for at least one more cycle (FIFA 23), EA CEO made some interesting comments that were picked up by VGC last week:
“I’m going to be more open… more open than I’ve been with the outside world,” Wilson said, when asked why EA was considering breaking up with FIFA. “We’ve had a great relationship with FIFA over the past 30-odd years. We’ve created billions in value… it’s just huge. We’ve created one of the biggest entertainment properties on the planet. I would argue – and this may be a little biased – that the FIFA brand has more meaning as a video game than it does a governing body of soccer. We don’t take that for granted and we try not to be arrogant. We’ve worked really hard to try and make FIFA understand what we need for the future.”
Bold words there by EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson but…
If you mention FIFA, most people would assume you’re refererring to the video game and not the corrupt governing body. Mr. Wilson even doubled-down on these comments:
“Basically, what we get from FIFA in a non-World Cup year is the four letters on the front of the box, in a world where most people don’t even see the box anymore because they buy the game digitally.
“In a World Cup year of course, we get access to the World Cup, but in the broader context of global football on an annualized basis, the World Cup is important but it’s not the most important. We have 300 other licenses that give us the content that our players engage with the most and the most deeply.”
According the EA CEO, FIFA has even blocked them at times from expanding the game:
“As we’ve looked to the future we want to grow the franchise, and ironically the FIFA license has actually been an impediment to that. Our players tell us they want more cultural and commercial brands relevant to them in their markets, more deeply embedded in the game… brands like Nike. But because FIFA has a relationship with Adidas, we are not able to do that.”
“Our players tell us they want more modes of play, different things beyond 11v11 and different types of gameplay. I would tell you, it’s been a fight to get FIFA to acknowledge the types of things that we want to create, because they say our license only covers certain categories.
“Our players want us to expand into the digital ecosystem more broadly… our fans are telling us they want us to go and participate in that space. Our FIFA license has actually precluded us from doing a lot of this stuff. Again, FIFA is just the name on the box, but they’ve precluded our ability to be able to branch into the areas that players want.”
“Our players are telling us they want us to move really quick: ‘we want you guys doing stuff fast’. And in order to do that, we need a level of freedom to be truly creative, innovative and experiment in the marketplace. Because of the nature of the approval timetables and the various things around our FIFA license, that’s actually been really hard and we’re moving much slower than we want.”
Those are some very honest statements, which you typically don’t hear very often from top video game executives. I’m sure the $2.5 billion FIFA (the governing body) is asking for is something that EA doesn’t want to pay, but it seems like the eventual split is all but a certainty after FIFA 23.
FIFA 23 Adding Crossplay
With the PS5, and to some extent the Xbox Series X, still relatively hard to get, the split between gamers playing on different console generations is rather large. This has a large impact on FIFA’s main player base, FUT, and other modes such as Pro Clubs. The amount of clubs, especially as you reach the higher divisions, are rather scarce, and that means you’ll often play the same clubs over and over again. With Konami still working on crossplay for eFootball 2022, EA is looking to beat them to the punch by making it available in FIFA 23. Bringing together PlayStation, Xbox, and the PC communities is a huge bonus for esports as well as friends who might play on different consoles.
FIFA 23 Will Feature Men’s & Women’s World Cup
EA has the FIFA license for at least one more year, so the company might as well use it. Based on the rumors out there, we’re going to get the 2022 Men’s World Cup as well as the 2023 Women’s World Cup. In particular, the 2022 Men’s Final will be a little different than what we’re used to though seeing as how it’s going to be held in November and December due to Qatar hosting it — they want to attempt to avoid 100+ degree weather that’s so common during the Qatar summer months.
It will be interesting to see how EA programs this into the career mode schedule if they choose to not release a standalone game. Despite having the official FIFA license, EA has struggled to acquire the national team licenses needed to make the World Cup authentic, namely the African countries of which there are none in FIFA 22.
In addition to the 2022 Men’s World Cup, FIFA 23 will feature the 2023 Women’s World Cup, which is scheduled to start in July 2023. With 32 teams involved in real life, EA will need to add at least 15 more teams if they want it the tournament to be authentic. I was, and still am, a big fan of adding more women’s sides to the FIFA franchise as this inclusiveness helps to cater to the large population of women who also have love for the beautiful game. FIFA 22 introduced women avatars to its Pro Clubs mode, so this next step towards more diversity is a welcomed one.
Bottom Line
Bottom Line
There are some other rumors circulating about the evolution of HyperMotion and ditching the Xsens suits in favor of using stadium cameras, but EA hasn’t confirmed (or denied) these rumors as of now. It’s perfectly logical to expect a technology like HyperMotion to keep progressing after what was a suspect first year filled with odd animations and quirky movements. Apart from that, it will be interesting to see how the EA and FIFA relationship plays out as I’m fairly curious as to how exactly FIFA was holding EA back as stated above by its CEO, Andrew Wilson. The potential for new modes and partnerships seem like something EA has ideas on, so we’ll have to keep our eyes out for any news that might come our way.
