After revealing Chelsea star Sam Kerr on its cover earlier this week, EA has unveiled the first trailer for FIFA 23 showing that women’s soccer will finally be a key part of the game. It will include women’s club teams from the top leagues in England and France, along with both the women’s and men’s competitions in both the 2022 Qatar World Cup and 2023 Australia/New Zealand World Cup.
International women’s teams have been available in EA FIFA games since 2016, but this will be the first edition with club teams. The women’s game has climbed in popularity thanks in part to the Olympics and other international competitions, and the 2022 World Cup will provide another huge boost. Two leagues is far short from the dozens available for men’s soccer, but it looks like EA plans to add more via future updates. “We’re committed to building an equitable experience and aspire to help grow women’s football,” said FIFA 23’s Matt Lafreniere.
FIFA 23 also introduces cross-play functionality and more “realistic” gameplay via its latest evolution of HyperMotion2 technology, EA said. That feature applies machine learning to motion capture data to create smoother player movements during gameplay.
FIFA 23 will be EA’s last version of the game with the FIFA name, as it failed to come to terms with FIFA over financial and exclusivity issues. However, EA still holds licenses for more than 300 soccer partners and has exclusive agreements with the likes of the Premier League, MLS, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A. The series will be rebranded as EA Sports FC in its future versions.
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