FIFA 23 Ultimate Team is experiencing the biggest changes since its inception

In fiscal 2021, Ultimate Team earned $1.62 billion – accounting for 29% of EA’s entire business. There is no single game mode that is more popular or profitable. Then maybe you can understand why minimal changes were implemented before FIFA 22. But a closer look at FUT’s manicured lawn revealed weeds sprouting. Single player options? Barely changed. Chemical? Exactly the same. The ability to pair Robert Lewandowki and Kylian Mbappe without punishment? Impossible. Leaving these ivy sprouts neglected will bolster every social media claim that the publisher has profited from player feedback – so it’s a relief to report that Ultimate Team has changed in a big way for FIFA 23.

Let’s start by delving into the loudest Twitter rumor: Chemistry isn’t dead. However, it was completely overhauled in a long overdue tactical pass. You’re still rewarded for having players from the same team or league in a lineup, but they don’t have to be adjacent to each other. Indeed, squad chemistry has been completely removed along with the old loyalty system.

Put Andy Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Roberto Firminho on the same team and get three chemistry points (maximum possible) per player, even though they’re scattered across different positions. And let’s say there’s no statistical penalty for having Kylian Mbappe in an all-English team or having a La Liga squad where Nick Pope scores. Of course, neither Mbappe nor Pope will add chemistry value, but they will still play their cards with the same stats.

The change was made with three clear goals in mind. “[We want to] increase roster diversity and allow for a wider range of player selection, allowing for more diverse team compositions by removing barriers created by positional connections,” says producer Mike Barnucz. “It also adds more intuitive mechanics to make squad building easier, making it more authentic and more rewarding. [And it] It removes common pain points like low player qualities caused by low chemistry… a design that is often unintuitive for new players.”

Positions renewed

Supporting these tweaks is a revision of the Positioning cards. Previously, these depended on a length of field: you could move an LM to Left Right, then Left Right (and back), an RM to RW, then RF, and even a defensive midfielder to a striker. But a defender can never be a midfielder, and a left winger was penalized for changing the wing, despite Raheem Sterling and Kingsley Coman’s success on both sides.

Fortunately, Positioning cards are both simpler and more personal. Apply one to a specific player and you can switch him to any of his second positions, so Joao Cancelo’s real-life resilience is eventually replicated and rewarded in-game. Similarly, say goodbye to meeting online rivals with N’Golo Kante at ST. Unless a player is actually playing on a slot, you cannot assign him to that position in EA’s sandbox and he maintains zero chemistry when placed there. The change should provide more authenticity and less sweat.

“Basic players such as bronze, silver and gold have a preferred position and up to three alternate positions,” says Barnucz. “Kylian Mbappe’s preferred position is ST, but he can also play in LW and CF. Using a Location Changer makes it possible to change Mbappe’s preferred location to one of the alternative locations listed. Mbappe could then be placed in that position in the starting lineup and now he can win chemistry.”

Single-player options are also finally being expanded. Don’t have time to jump to an exact 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 collect stars that can later be turned into bigger prizes – building up to 300 stars on a sample screen takes a TOTW Dybala score of 87.

The system isn’t really new if you’ve played Madden 22 – indeed it looks pretty much the same as what was found in MUT. The good news is that I found myself addicted to the latter, which adds new challenges and attractive rewards with each major campaign. If EA Canada can mirror the frequency and creativity of sister studio Tiburon, FUT Moments will not only complement Squad Battles and Division Rivals, it will be more popular than either.

you feel it

For example, Dybala, the FUT Moments campaign as the main prize, focuses on the FIFA 23 cover athlete. Titled The Rise of Mbappe, it features 62 different scenarios starring the Frenchman: 14 from his early career, 11 as a ‘rising star’, etc. He appears to be a substitute against Caen at the 88th minute: you need exactly three passes and a volley to earn the maximum number of stars. Did you miss a star? Just like Madden, you can continue playing again or move on to the next challenge.

It would be unfair to say that while EA preferred to focus resources elsewhere, such as the career mode in FIFA 22, it ignored FUT. One of the welcome additions was FIFA 22 Heroes: a series of players who didn’t fully qualify for Icon status but gained fame in a particular league. I had a lot of fun building a Ligue 1 team around David Ginola this season, and EA has said that the Heroes roster in FIFA 23 is Claudio Marchisio, Ricardo Carvalho, Park Ji-Sung and – most temptingly – Yaya Toure. Toure’s power, passing ability and long shots have made him a true Ultimate Team strength throughout the 2010s and his return is huge. (Remind me that I wrote this while he was tearing me apart in league games over the weekend throughout October.)

Other tweaks are more incremental. Squad Building Challenges will be interesting to watch – they will now look noticeably different without the overall team chemistry, as the aggregated player chemistry reaches 33 instead of 100. The Top 200 leaderboards for Squad Battles are gone, at the time of transfer the market now exists as a single entity for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One and Stadia. A kind of FUT connection is also promised with the upcoming Qatar World Cup. As we write this, we’re nearly six weeks away from our FIFA 23 review – and these changes to the biggest mod in the game will be the first thing under GR’s Roy-Hodgson-branded microscope.