FIFA 23 is EA's last FIFA game, and it's making its mark. The latest soccer sim from EA Sports has racked up 10.3 million players within its first week on sale, which is pretty solid going even for a franchise that has an effective monopoly over the world of soccer games (thanks a lot, eFootball).
According to a press release, this 10.3 million figure is "record-breaking" for FIFA, which feels like an appropriate swansong for EA's time with the franchise. EA Sports senior vice president Nick Wlodyka describes FIFA 23 players' response to the game as "incredible" and reassures players that FIFA 23 is due to receive plenty of updates, not least to women's club soccer.
Despite FIFA 23's successful launch, the debut of this final installment in EA's FIFA series hasn't been without its problems. PC players in particular have been review bombing the game on Steam due to a recurring error linked to EA's anti-cheat software. At time of writing, this problem doesn't appear to have been fixed, with many players still complaining of errors and crashes in Steam's review section.
If you're wondering why this is EA's final dalliance with FIFA, don't worry; the studio isn't giving up on making soccer games altogether. Instead, FIFA and EA simply haven't been able to agree on a way forward for the license, so as of next year, FIFA will be renamed to EA Sports FC. It's a less catchy title, for sure, but it'll no doubt stick as soon as people realize it's FIFA by another name.
Despite EA moving away from the FIFA name, it looks like FIFA as a gaming franchise is set to continue. FIFA (that's the organization, not the game) is expanding its development radius to include other studios, so you'll likely see EA Sports FC and FIFA side-by-side in digital storefronts and on shelves soon. We're yet to learn who'll be developing FIFA going forward, but one thing's for sure: EA Sports FC will continue. Watch this space for more info.
