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In the 2021 fiscal year, Ultimate Team made $1.62 billion – accounting for 29% of EA’s entire business. There is no single gaming mode more popular, or profitable. You could perhaps understand, then, why minimal changes were implemented ahead of FIFA 22. But closer inspection of FUT’s manicured turf showcased the sprouting of weeds. Single-player options? Barely changed. Chemistry? Identical. The ability to pair Robert Lewandowki and Kylian Mbappe without punishment? Impossible. To leave these sprouts of ivy untended would corroborate every social media claim of the publisher placing profit over player feedback – so it’s a relief to report that Ultimate Team is changing in a big way for FIFA 23.
Let’s start by going studs-up on the noisiest Twitter rumor of all: Chemistry isn’t dead. But it has been totally reworked, in a long-overdue tactical switch. You’re still rewarded for having players from the same team or league in a line-up, but they don’t need to be adjacent to one another. Indeed, squad chemistry has been removed completely, along with the old loyalty system.
Place Andy Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Roberto Firminho in the same team and you score three chemistry points per player (the maximum possible) despite them being scattered across different positions. And there’s no stats punishment for having, say, Kylian Mbappe in an all-English team, or a La Liga line-up with Nick Pope in goal. Sure, neither Mbappe or Pope will add chemistry value, but they will still play with the same stats as their cards.
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The change has been made with three clear goals in mind. “[We want to] increase squad variety and allow for a wider range of player selections, enabling more diverse team compositions by removing the barriers created by positional links,” says line producer Mike Barnucz. “It also adds more intuitive mechanics to make squad building easier, making it more authentic and more rewarding. [And it] removes common pain points such as lowered player attributes caused by low chemistry… a design that was often not intuitive to new players.”
Positions reconditioned
Bolstering these tweaks are a revision of Positioning cards. Previously, these were tied to one length of the field: you could move a LM to LW then LF (and back), a RM to RW then RF, and even a defensive midfielder all the way through to striker. But a defender could never become a midfielder, and a left-sided player was punished for switching flanks – despite the likes of Raheem Sterling and Kingsley Coman being accomplished on either side.
Now, thankfully, Positioning cards are both simpler and more personal. Apply one to a given player and you can switch him to any of his second positions, so Joao Cancelo’s real-life flexibility is finally replicated and rewarded in-game. Similarly, say a merciful goodbye to meeting online opponents with N’Golo Kante at ST. If a player doesn’t play in a slot in reality, you can’t assign him to that position on EA’s virtual turf, and he maintains zero chemistry when placed there. The change should ensure more authenticity, and less sweat.
“Base players, such as bronze, silver, and gold, have a preferred position and up to three alternative positions,” says Barnucz. “Kylian Mbappe’s preferred position is ST, however he can also play at LW and CF. Using a Position Modifier item makes it possible to change Mbappe’s preferred position to one of the listed alternative positions. Mbappe could then be slotted into that position in the starting XI and now be able to gain chemistry.”
Single-player options are finally being expanded, too. Not got the time to jump into a full match, but still need a quick fix? Say hello to FUT Moments. These quick challenges drop you into challenges of varying length and difficulty. Complete them to pick up stars which can then be converted into bigger rewards – in an example screen, building up to 300 stars scores an 87-rated TOTW Dybala.
The system isn’t truly new if you’ve played Madden 22 – indeed, it looks pretty much identical to that found in MUT. The good news is that I’ve found myself hooked on the latter, which has seen fresh challenges and tempting rewards added during every major campaign. If EA Canada can mirror the frequency and creativity of sister studio Tiburon then FUT Moments will not only complement Squad Battles and Division Rivals, but prove more popular than both.
Caen you feel it
For example, the FUT Moments campaign Dybala as the main reward is centered on the FIFA 23 cover athlete. Titled Rise of Mbappe, it features 62 different scenarios starring the Frenchman: 14 from his early career, 11 as a ‘rising star’, and so on. One sees him come on as a substitute against Caen, in the 88th minute: to earn the maximum number of stars you need a complete three passes and score a volley. Miss out on a star? Just like Madden you can keep replaying or move on to the next challenge.
While EA chose to focus resources elsewhere – such as career mode – in FIFA 22, it’d be unfair to say it ignored FUT. One welcome addition was FIFA 22 Heroes: a set of players who don’t quite qualify for Icon status, but found fame in a particular league. I’ve had great fun building a Ligue 1 team around David Ginola this season, and EA has confirmed that the Heroes list is expanding by at least four names in FIFA 23, with Claudio Marchisio, Ricardo Carvalho, Park Ji-Sung, and – most tantalizingly – Yaya Toure. Toure’s power, passing ability and distance shooting made him a true Ultimate Team force throughout the 2010s, and his return is huge. (Remind me I wrote that when he’s ripping me apart in weekend league games throughout October.)
Other tweaks are more incremental. Squad Building Challenges will be interesting to monitor – with no more overall team chemistry they’re going to look markedly different, as collective player chem adds up to 33, rather than 100. The Top 200 leaderboard for Squad Battles is gone, while the transfer market now exists as one entity for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One and Stadia. Some kind of FUT tie-in with the upcoming Qatar World Cup is also promised. As I write this, we’re about six weeks from our FIFA 23 review – and these changes to the biggest mode in gaming will be the first thing under GR’s Roy-Hodgson-branded microscope.
