The FIFA video game was the most successful sports game franchise in history, selling hundreds of millions of copies. From this year onwards, the new games will lose the FIFA branding and be called EA Sports FC, so what do we know about the first game in the series to date?

What to Expect?

The developer, EA Sports, has hinted that the basic game will continue to be the same that we’re used to from the FIFA series. However, plenty of online rumors suggest the many possible changes we could see when the re-named game gets launched later this year.

For a start, the loss of the FIFA backing means that any mention of the game’s governing body will be removed from features such as FIFA Point and FIFA Ultimate Team. Online play will continue to be available, known as Football Team FC mode and the CLUB format, where the Elite level will be the top division. Online seasons will have five weeks of the regular season and another week for the playoffs.

We can expect to see Hero and Icon cards continue. The Hero category covers popular players who fall just below Icon status and the latest leaks suggest that new names in here will include unforgettable players like Dimitar Berbatov, Vincent Kompany, Shunsuke Nakamura, and Franck Ribery.

The rising popularity of esports means that people like to watch FIFA games and bet on them. While the most popular esports for betting currently includes titles such as CS: GO, League of Legends, and Dota 2, the new EA Sports FC game could make a significant impact on the betting market. This would mean more people placing wagers on win bets, spread bets, and other popular types of bets.

Will There Be a Women’s Ultimate Team?

With the women’s game getting more popular than ever before and the Women’s World Cup coming up in Australia and New Zealand later this year, this looks like a great time to promote the female version of this sport. This perhaps explains why there have been so many rumors of a Women’s Ultimate Team being created for this version.

To date, there has been no official confirmation from EA Sports about the inclusion of a Women’s Ultimate Team, However, social media has been ablaze with rumors, with even a supposedly leaked image showing us what the logo for this part of the new game is meant to look like, with a purple and black design.

This leads on to the suggestion that female players will also be added to the Icons and Heroes section. This brings us the possibility of playing with legendary players from the women’s game like Mia Hamm, Sam Kerr, and Hope Solo. With EA Sports committing to the female game more in the recent editions of FIFA, it certainly wouldn’t be a major surprise to find a Women’s Ultimate Team in their new game under the EA Sports FC name.

Perhaps the biggest issue is how this could be done. Would the Women’s Ultimate Team have its own separate mode, or would the developer look for a way to include the iconic female players in the existing Ultimate Team setup? Both methods have their pros and cons, so it’ll be interesting to see what the final decision is.

There have also been suggestions that the Ultimate Team might not have a transfer section at all, following problems with the volume of coins being bought and sold in the past. The Ultimate Team is going to remain, so it’s simply a question of seeing how players are going to be able to build their teams in this mode from now on.

When Can We Expect to Find Out More?

It’s worth bearing in mind that the only part of the game that EA Sports needs to take out are those elements with the FIFA branding. Therefore, fans can look forward to the new release without any worries about losing any of their favorite parts, and fresh licensing deals have been agreed with many of the top clubs and players. However, there’s still a lot of anticipation over what exactly we’ll see in the final game.

No exact definite release date has yet been revealed, although we’re expecting EA Sports FC 24 to come out around September and October, which would tie in with when the annual FIFA game was usually released. Since there are still a few months to go, there are sure to be more rumors of new features before then.

Overall, this new game is likely to be closer to the latest FIFA game that many people expected when the split with the governing body was announced. However, the new name and the prospect of some of the interesting changes that we’ve looked at should be enough to keep players looking out for updates.

23.05.2023