FIFA news has been pretty wild this year. I mean, for a start, the games are set to lose their FIFA name altogether, very soon. The change had been rumoured for some time, but in May, EA confirmed that future releases (beyond FIFA 23, that is) will instead take on a new title, ‘EA SPORTS FC’. Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue in the same way, but hey.
At the time, EA claimed that as well as everything that players love remaining intact, the new name would allow for a “fresh opportunity - innovate, create and evolve”, lining up with previous comments from EA’s CEO, Andrew Wilson, when he reportedly said that the FIFA name was an “impediment”, which held them back from changing many of the games’ status quos.
Before we get into it, be sure to take a look at some of our favourite FIFA wins and fails below.
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Despite that, it seems that EA will be leaving the FIFA name with a bang, as 23’s cover star will reportedly be Chelsea FC Women’s Sam Kerr. If true, this will be the first time that the series has had a female player on the worldwide cover of the game. As reported by GGRecon, these rumours come courtesy of insider @DonkTrading on Twitter, who claims that Kerr will be featured on the game box, alongside Kylian Mbappé, who, of course, was the star of FIFA 21 and 22.
It wouldn’t be the very first time that a woman has ever graced a FIFA cover - it originally happened in FIFA 16, when, alongside Lionel Messi, US copies of the game also featured Alex Morgan, Canada’s saw Christine Sinclair, and Australia’s included Stephanie Catley (thanks, Engadget). Kerr’s appearance on the 23 cover will apparently be a global affair, though, so this is an important step further.
It’s also been rumoured that FIFA 23 could feature cross-platform play, for the first time in the series. That’s right, no matter if you have friends on PC, Xbox or PlayStation, it’ll apparently be possible to play with them all at the same time, to which I'm sure we can all say ‘it’s about time’.
The game is shaping up to be one full of exciting firsts if the rumours are true - we’ll have to watch this space.