After all, the FIFA community has been waiting for years for a playable alternative to escape to when the game gets broken by EA again. So what needs to change at Electronic Arts to prevent that from happening?

To warm up: 5 facts about EA

Even though the new spin-off of EA Sports’ soccer simulation at the end of the year probably won’t be called FIFA 23, I’m going to call the game FIFA 23 for the sake of simplicity.

Monopoly position of EA Sports FIFA wobbles

The long-standing monopoly position of EA Sports’ FIFA has resulted in the soccer simulation becoming the most successful game of the year and yet one of the most criticized titles. Thus, there is actually hardly any reason for EA Sports to change anything if, in the end, the numbers fit. But that could change soon.

In the next few years, they will be challenged by several developer studios.

• eFootball by KONAMI – Let’s hope for a less embarrassing comeback
• UFL by Strikerz Inc. – The studio is very ambitious and already enjoys the trust of the community.
• Goals from GOALS AB – Hype generated by scene star Kurt

In order for FIFA 23 and all the other titles to continue to be played by the millions, either the three studios have to screw everything up or EA Sports changes their own course and improves the game in various areas. So don’t just pretend they are completely rethinking.

What needs to change now with EA Sports’ FIFA

If I would write about all the construction sites in FIFA 22, I would probably have to make a series out of this article. The whole community is not satisfied for various reasons. I go here on essential points for me, which make this game unplayable from my point of view. The following points have to change in FIFA 23.

1. Finally stable servers with low ping

It’s actually incredible that we’ve had to keep talking about this topic for years. Kai ‘deto ‘Wollin told me in an interview that EA Sports could program the game no matter how perfectly and still:

“The game stands and falls with the servers.”

I noticed this particularly strongly in FIFA 22. When the game runs smoothly, the passes arrive, the players don’t move like trucks and suddenly it’s all about your skill.

Otherwise, passes are sometimes not played at all, players can’t be selected, and the game gets lost in chaos. We probably don’t need to discuss how to defend when the game stops every few seconds.

EA Sports also gets a lot of things wrong off the virtual pitch.

2. January patch from hell

How does the typical FIFA cycle actually come about? Before release we all look forward to playing the new FIFA. The previous installment was bad and now everything is supposed to be better. At the beginning everything fits and little by little bugs and META changes creep in. Then in the middle of January always comes the last big patch for FIFA and destroys any joy and hope for a good game, also in FIFA 22.

Admittedly: On the PlayStation 4, this negative change was not as noticeable. Helps but unfortunately nothing, if EA Sports recognizes the performance of ambitious Spieler:innen exclusively on the next-gen console. Thus, the version that has become almost unplayable due to the January patch.

3. EA Sports must finally take esports seriously

What we have witnessed so far in FIFA 22 esports is unbelievable. The ultimate proof that Esport is written tiny at EA Sports is the fact that the events aren’t even promoted by the publisher itself. The prize pool is so small that there is just enough for only a few finalists out of millions of participants to get something out of it. But that doesn’t matter anyway, if the qualification system is so bad that professionals have to play through whole nights, only to lose the decisive points for the qualification at the end due to one or more server crashes – GG.

4. FUT must again become more than just packopenings

Over the past few years, FIFA 22 Ultimate Team’s gameplay has become more and more distracted. I myself have noticed that I am only motivated to play FUT 22 to get packs at the end. This has the effect that I play more at the beginning of a – Season to reach the Elite Division, and after that I only get the now eight wins for the Bonus Rewards. Otherwise, the Weekend League is played to eleven wins on the weekend to get three FUT Champions cards.

So you see: I play now not because the game is super fun, but for the packs you get. Without these packs, you are left behind by all the other players in terms of squads.

So what needs to change in FIFA 23 to make me stay and not switch to UFL or Goals?

The most important point will be the server, of course. I’m not an IT expert, but I think that with the big revenue EA Sports could put up bigger servers. Also, it just has to be able to be fun for me again. Of course, a fluid game would make me significantly more bock. But in the end I also need more motivation than rewards to get packs, which are the only basis to stay competitive.

EA Sports, can you please deliver us again a game that is more than three months of fun and rewards well playing FIFA gamer:in for that too? I would be very happy about that.