FIFA 23 will include cross-play support, two World Cups

Electronic Arts’ annual football franchise is reportedly getting cross-play support this year. Players on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC will be able to play against each other, starting with FIFA 23.
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Earlier rumours suggested that the brand will be going free-to-play in 2022, but those plans have now been kept on hold. As stated Tom Henderson on XFire, the cross-play support is the first for the series’ hory and will be enabled for all online or co-op game modes. The game is also said to be featuring two World Cup modes – Men and Women, with EA expanding its licensing partnership across all major leagues to “drive and build a single FIFA experience.”

The news comes following a VGC report, where EA CEO Andrew Wilson stated that he was looking to drop the FIFA brand from its games, calling it an “impediment.” Wilson claimed that the association had prevented them from expanding its game modes beyond the traditional 11v11. He also suggested that the only value EA ever got from the FIFA license in a non-World Cup year was the “four letters on the box.”
Back in October 2021, EA had announced a name change for its football franchise, following a financial dispute. According to the company, the FIFA branding and licensing was getting far too expensive to afford, and they were asked to pay $2.5 billion over the next 10 years FIFA (association). The amount is more than double what the publisher was used to paying in the previous years.

FIFA 23 is also reported to feature improvements to its new Hypermotion Technology, which is a next-gen motion capture technique that combines real-life 11v11 recordings with machine learning to deliver realic movement. Henderson claims that the technology has been enhanced “tenfold,” to the point where developers can now capture animations from real matches via stadium cameras.
FIFA 23 is expected to launch sometime in September across all major platforms – going their standard release strategy.