Electronic Arts says that Fifa 23 will be the first time ever that women’s club football teams will be playable.
At launch, you will only be able to play the FA Women’s Super League and the French Division 1 Féminine. EA says, though, that it will add more players in the future. EA announced on Tuesday that Sam Kerr of Chelsea will join Kylian Mbappé of PSG on the cover of the game for the first time ever. Fifa 23 will have both the 2022 World Cup for men in Qatar and the 2023 World Cup for women in Australia and New Zealand.
With Fifa 16, which has sold over 325 million copies, EA added women’s football for the first time to its series. But not many teams from other countries were in that game. In the previous year’s Fifa 22, the number of international teams went up to 17, and the Pro Clubs mode let users make their own female players. But because only a small number of women can play, there have been complaints that it is mostly a publicity stunt.
The need is growing along with the popularity of the women’s game, which has been helped by the Euro 2022 tournament. Matt Lafreniere, who made Fifa 23, said, “We’re committed to making an equal experience and hope to help grow women’s football.” In the coming months, the company says it will share more information about the women’s club game, such as when new leagues will be added. In the women’s games, the new Hypermotion 2 technology will be used. This technology combines machine learning with motion captured data to create new, realistic player movements on the fly. This technology has confirmed that the movements of female players have been captured to make sure the animations are correct.
Publishers besides Electronic Arts know that women’s sports are becoming more and more important. This month, 2K Games released NBA2K23 WNBA Edition, a new game in its NBA 2K series that focuses on the women’s game. The popular Football Manager franchise from Sports Interactive now includes women’s leagues.
Fifa 23, which was made by EA, will be the last game in the 30-year-old Fifa series. It was reported in May that the publisher will end the licence because of differences in pricing and exclusivity. Fifa’s video game licence will now be open to a number of different game developers. In the meantime, Electronic Arts said that from 2023 on, it will be called EA Sports FC.
