In the new single-player mode, FUT Moments, players complete short chunks of games with specific conditions to earn a new currency, FUT Stars, which can be spent in a new shop that stocks exclusive rewards. On the FUT chemistry front, players will now receive chemistry from compatible players across the pitch, not just from the teammates immediately next to them. The example given by EA is Liverpool’s full-back duo, Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold. In the old FUT chemistry system, Robertson and Alexander-Arnold wouldn’t give each other any chemistry - despite playing for the same team in the same league - because they were too far away from each other to link. The new system sees similar players from all over the park giving each other chemistry regardless of position. Instead of a scale of 0-10 for chemistry, players will have between 0-3 chemistry points determined by chemistry thresholds. Once a player gets enough increments to get over a chemistry threshold, they gain a chemistry point. Your progress towards a chemistry threshold is determined by three factors: preferred position, the profile of a player, and manager bonus. A player in their preferred position gets one increment towards their first chemistry point and you can get another by using a manager with the same nation or league as your player. The rest of your progress comes from the nations, leagues and teams of players - just without the traditional link structure. As an example, if they were all from different nations, to get everyone on full chemistry from just playing for Liverpool, you would need 2 players for 1 chemistry point, 5 players for 2 chemistry points, and 9 players for everyone to immediately be on 3 chemistry points. Additionally, players can now only gain any chemistry at all if they’re playing in their preferred position. Players out of position will always have 0 chemistry. However, all of the negative effects of having low chemistry on a player will be removed, and a player will always play to at least their card’s base attributes. To make things even easier though, players now also have a number of alternative positions that can be swapped with a position changing item. For example, Kylian Mbappe can be swapped between ST, CF and LW. All LMs and RMs will be able to swap to LW or RW by default, as will all STs and CFs. EA has said that this shakeup is to remove the often punitive restrictions on squad building in FIFA Ultimate Team, allowing greater flexibility and many, many more options when creating teams. While this is likely to give greater diversity to the upper echelons of the meta - as well as making it easier for new players to jump into playing without feeling like they’re getting stomped by better teams unfairly - the most obvious criticism is that it takes some of the skill, challenge and creativity away from making the best squads. In this World Cup year, FIFA Ultimate Team will also include special World Cup-themed player items. On top of its inclusion in FUT, FIFA 23 will also feature both the Men’s World Cup 2022 and Women’s World Cup 2023, as well as Women’s clubs for the first time. It will also have cross-play for the first time between players on the same console generation, so PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S players can play together, while PS4 and Xbox One players can play together too. FIFA 23 is set to be the last football game made in partnership by EA and FIFA, after they agreed to part ways after almost 30 years. EA’s football game series will apparently continue on as EA Sports FC. FUT makes more than a billion dollars for EA annually, but has not been without controversy. Many world governments have looked into the possibility of regulating its loot box-style player packs, which have been compared to gambling. This has been seen as particularly troubling given FIFA’s PEGI-3 and E for everyone age ratings, which make these potentially compulsive monetization mechanics available to, and possibly targeted at, children. FIFA 23 is set to release worldwide on PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, PS4 and PS5, with a legacy edition on Nintendo Switch, on September 30, 2022.
