Article by Antonio Izzo
August 11 2022
Available forWe approach the end of an era: starting next year, EA Sports will no longer use the FIFA brand in the title of its football games, which will therefore bear the new name EA Sports FC from 2023. In saying goodbye to a twenty-year partnership that has indelibly marked multiple generations of gamers, the Canadian development company has chosen to give vent to all its ambitions and considerably enhance its football simulation. FIFA 23 coins will benefit from a large number of new features, starting with the wonders of FIFA 2 Hypermotion23, a new iteration of the technology that generates realistic animations and fluid team movements, up to the numerous content additions, which include the return of Juventus and the Men's World Cup and female, and of gameplay, which affect the FIFA 23 Career and the Pro Club and Volta modes of the new FIFA.
Today we go to the discovery ofWhat's new in Ultimate Team, main pride of the franchise. Indulging the wishes of millions and millions of users eager to create the team of their dreams is not an easy task, but EA Sports has tried to do it in the best possible way by tweaking various mechanics already present and updating the good things that had already been done over the years passed. Let's find out together what the new FUT is made of!
Interventions on the Meta: Understanding and Alternative Positions
With the goal of making the Ultimate Team experience more enjoyable, EA Sports chose to make team building more flexible and less punishing by a redefinition of the parameter of the Entente. The new streamlined system will allow athletes to share Chemistry regardless of their position on the pitch.
Eliminating the need for direct ties between neighboring players it will also determine the disappearance of any negative impact on the attributes due to poor Intesa links. This will offer more variety in squad building, only having to take into account the shared club, league and country/region combinations.
With the elimination of the General Chemistry of the team and the simplification of the entire system, the focus is therefore concentrated on the individual players of the formation. Each athlete will be able to earn up to a maximum of 3 Agreement Points.
The individual score, which consequently may vary from 0 to 3, will be influenced by three different factors: the Preferred Position (a player can have a score higher than 0 only if he plays in his preferred position), the Understanding Thresholds (as players who match the other owners' club, league and country are added to the team, Chemistry thresholds are reached which triggers the addition of Chemistry points) and Manager Bonus (the manager contributes to the players' Chemistry increase who share the same nationality/region and League). It goes without saying that the enhancement of the Attributes will be greater the higher the individual Integrity score (0 - None, 1 - Small, 2 - Medium, 2 - Complete).
For example, as they share both the league and the club - in this case Liverpool - putting two players in the likes of Trent-Alexander Arnold and Andrew Robertson in the same team will undoubtedly prove to be a wise move. The two will also be able to influence each other's Chemistry by playing on opposite sides of the pitch, as long as they occupy their preferred position.
As we have seen so far, the impact of positions has been simplified and made more intuitive. Players only earn and contribute to the Entente if they are in their preferred location, that means athletes out of position will always have Chemistry equal to 0 and will be marked with a yellow exclamation point in the so-called Agreement Panel. At this point, however, another parameter comes into play, the Alternative location.
Basic players, such as Bronze, Silver and Gold, will have one preferred position and up to three alternate positions. Let's take FIFA 23 Cover Athlete Kylian Mbappé as an example: his favorite role is ST, but he can cover LW and CF as well. Using a Position Modifier object, you will be able to change the preferred position of the French champion.
This system will also give EA Sports a good leeway when it comes to FUT campaigns: Shapeshifters, for example, could receive new Favorite and / or alternative Positions to further increase the degree of freedom in building a team.
The system described so far will behave in a slightly different way when Icons and Heroes, i.e. the most prestigious Player Items of Ultimate Team, find a place in the team. first of all, the Icons they will always have full Chemistry when assigned to their Preferred Position, regardless of the rest of the team. Icons, which will include Zidane, Beckham and Cruyff, will also make two increases to their country/region's Chemistry Threshold. Very similar speech also for the FUT Heroes, which this year will see among their ranks champions such as Yaya Touré, Park Ji-Sung, Claudio Marchisio and Ricardo Carvalho.
Like the Icons, they will have full Chemistry in their preferred position, however they will count for two increments to the League Chemistry Threshold and one increment to the Nation/Region Chemistry Threshold. Both Icons and Heroes will therefore represent a very powerful tool in building FUT squads.
It will be interesting to find out how the Meta will react once all these innovations are fed to millions of gamers. According to EA Sports, all these interventions - aimed at removing arbitrary limits and designed to offer the community more space for functional customization - will contribute to make the Meta less rigid and stagnant. The changes look promising, however only time and a dynamic gaming community will be able to give us a definitive verdict on this.
For lovers of solo experiences: FUT Moments
To those who prefer solo play EA Sports dedicates FUT moments, a brand new single player mode based on different types of scenarios. Designed to offer shorter gameplay experiences and greater flexibility in match length, difficulty, and squad requirements, FUT Moments will invite players to complete themed challenges with prizes up for grabs. Stars, a new in-game currency that can be spent in the Moment Star Gallery for players and themed packs.
Each game in this mode will start with the selection of one History based on seasonal themes, FUT campaigns or real events from football's past or present. Some will be available throughout the season, others will have a deadline.
Each Story will be made up of different ones Chapters: the first will be unlocked and playable immediately, while the remaining others may be locked and will require obtaining a specific amount of FUT Stars from previous Chapters. THE Momentsfinally, they will represent the individual playable scenarios, and will consist of a minimum of one, up to a maximum of three challenges. By completing them, you will be rewarded with FUT Stars.
In FIFA 23, for example, you will find History Rise of Mbappé. The first Chapter, unlocked immediately, will be represented by the Start of the Career. Inside there will be the 88th Moment of Victory, which will challenge you to enter an attacking scenario with two minutes left in the match and score a goal to tie the game. Upon completion, you will be rewarded with 1 FUT Star to reinvest from the Moment Star Gallery to unlock rewards such as Packs, Player Items and more.
Football without barriers (or almost)
FIFA Ultimate Team 23 will offer full cross-play support, unlike the Pro Club and Volta modes, which will not have it at the launch of FIFA 23 scheduled for September 30th. The feature can be disabled at any time, however it should be noted that in case of activation it will only work between platforms of the same generation, therefore between PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Google Stadia users and between PS4 and Xbox One players. For example, a PS4 owner will not be able to play with an active friend on Xbox Series X.
The integration between platforms will also affect the market and the rankings. In the past, the transfer market it was shared between consoles in the same family (such as PS5 and PlayStation 4), while in FUT 23 it will be expanded to combine PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Google Stadia, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. PC and Nintendo Switch, for their part, will continue to have their own exclusive markets. The rankings, however, will be split into global, referring to all platforms, and local, relating to the same family (Xbox One and Series X|S, for example).
As they say, even the eye wants its part. EA Sports has prepared some visual improvements for FUT 23 stadiums, such as a redesigned roof, color-matched lighting, animated billboards and textures for the big screen, as well as animated and moving Tifo and Pitch Props during the game. The VIP areas of the Authentic Club will feature new smoke effects and more dynamic crowd movement. Finally, there will be a series of thematic and dynamic contents designed to celebrate the World Cup FIFA Qatar 2022 in FUT 23, including FIFA World Cup Special Items for players.
