With the Men’s FIFA World Cup kicking off later this month, EA has announced that the World Cup update for FIFA 23 will drop on 9th November. The update brings new modes, and “elevated” match day experience, and a limited time World Cup version of FIFA Ultimate Team. The update will be coming to all platforms (but not that stupid ‘Legacy’ edition on Nintendo Switch)
FIFA 23’s World Cup update – should I just call it a ‘World Cupdate’ for the rest of this story? Yeah, let’s do that – will feature updated versions of all 32 qualified nations for the World Cup, letting you take them into the knockout tournament and seek glory for your chosen team. If you want, though, you can customise the tournament and change groups to play as any international side.
It’s more than that, though, with an online tournament mode that let’s you play through the knockout stages against other people. From 21st november to 18th December, a “live” World Cup mode will let you play through the group and knockout stages day-by-day, trying to replicate the contemporaneous footballing events, or rewrite reality.
EA has recreated official stadiums from the World Cup to feature in the game. Well… they’ve made two of them, one of which is the Lusail Stadium that will host the final.
FIFA Ultimate Team won’t have a special World Cup mode, but will instead of a tie-in event from 11th November to 23rd December with new campaigns and items that get upgrades as the tournament plays out. At the end of it you’ll trade in your FIFA World Cup Players Items for a reward that will grow depending on how well you’ve done.
There’s also 30 World Cup Heroes cards, and World Cup FUT Phenoms will drop after the quarter finals, highlighting some of the standout players from the tournament.
FIFA 23 is the last licensed game coming from EA, and it’s got a huge part to play over the coming year, with not just the men’s World Cup, but the women’s World Cup within its 12 month cycle. It’s a good effort that pushes to send out the franchise on a high – though everything will follow through to EA Sports FC next year – and in our FIFA 23 review, Aran said:
“FIFA 23 is the most expansive game in the series’ long history; women’s football has never been better represented, there’s fun new activities like Volta Arcade, and there’s still all of the classic modes. Still where FIFA 23 takes steps forward in some areas, it could still be better in others. The action on the pitch is fun and engaging, but the user interface can be clunky, and modes like player career mode feels like an afterthought with largely superficial changes, compared to the investment in Ultimate Team. FIFA 23 is the end of an era and goes out on a high, but still has the hallmarks of the series’ gradual yearly evolution.”
Source: EA
