EA’s soccer games release every year, and the real-world World Cup is held every four. That means the games perfectly line up with the worldwide tournament fairly often, and now it’s FIFA 23’s time to shine.
The in-game World Cup kicks off on November 9, and the new deep dive trailer gives us a great look at what we can expect during the celebration. Community manager Sheldon Rogers and producer Garreth Reeder walk through the highlights like being able to play a World Cup tournament with any of the qualifying countries both as a single player and online against others. World Cup: Live lets you enjoy the matches as they happen, taking control of each day’s teams with their real-world lineups. If your favored nation didn’t qualify for the World Cup this year, no worries: you can swap up to 15 other countries into a custom tournament bracket.
Another big part of this event is what EA calls Match Day Experience, which is meant to simulate the events of actually being at the tournament in Qatar. It features real-world stadiums, the game ball, and match commentary, as well as cinematics that show off supporters from around the world gathering for each match.
Thanks to the timing of the World Cup, FIFA 23 will also have special FIFA Ultimate Team challenges. Reeder promises a “full season of daily content, special player items, objectives, and more.” World Cup FUT was always a standalone summer mode in the past, but this year, it’s going to be “intertwined with the squad you’re already building.” Limited-time upgraded player items will also be part of the experience. To be clear, some of the player cards you earn in the mode will eventually go away. There will still be normal, permanent promo cards, but some of these will only be available during the World Cup period.
It’s worth mentioning that EA could be going all-out on World Cup content this year because it may be the last time it gets to do so. EA’s partnership with FIFA is over with the release of FIFA 23, and the series will be renamed EA Sports FC starting with next year’s game. Should EA want to include World Cup content in the future, it would need to negotiate a new deal with FIFA.
