According to a new Tom Henderson leak, it looks like the next EA Sports FIFA game could feature cross-play and competition between PC, PlayStation and Xbox. This feature has been requested year after year and EA may finally implement it in the next version of the game.
Henderson also claims that women’s soccer leagues will finally be added to the game, such as the Barclays FA Women’s Super League, Flyeralarm Frauen-Bundesliga, NWSL and D1 FFF. EA Sports themselves have yet to confirm the veracity of these reports, but it’s not a big deal.
As for whether the next game in the series will be trademarked and licensed by FIFA, this time might be a big question mark.
Subsequent games after FIFA 23 may not be called FIFA
Reports suggest that perhaps EA is reviewing its licensing deal with the football regulator and trying to see if it’s worth the money they’re currently paying. Reports suggested that FIFA wanted to sign a deal that would net them over $1.5 billion over the next decade from EA.
It will be interesting to see how this develops and whether EA decides to drop the licensing deal altogether. Rumor has it that EA CEO Andrew Wilson has said that the sports franchise could be delayed by FIFA, preventing them from exploring “broader digital ecosystems”.
There has been no official word on the future of the franchise or whether it will continue to be licensed by FIFA. While it could be argued that a sports franchise may have outgrown the value of a license, the “four letters on the box”still carries a lot of weight.
In many ways, this is the key difference between the EA Sports football series and other games such as eFootball and the upcoming UFL. As to whether EA thinks the same, it’s entirely speculation.