Publisher Electronic Arts may well be taking the FIFA series down the free-to-play route, if a new report is anything to go by. While FIFA 22 will still be sold as a full-priced game when it launches later this year, an alleged insider has claimed that FIFA 23 will be taking a vastly different approach.
This is according to FIFA leaker Donk, who recently took to Twitter to suggest that next year's FIFA 23 will be both free-to-play and cross-platform. While I'd be the first to admit that a leak from anyone with the name "Donk" doesn't fill me with a ton of confidence, they have proven themselves to be a reliable source of FIFA-related information in the past.
Take a look at FIFA 22 in action below!
There's also the inescapable fact that FIFA's biggest rival, Pro Evolution Soccer, recently announced it would be adopting a free-to-play model and is rebranding under the (horrendous) name of eFootball. This is undoubtedly a huge shift for the long-running football sim, and one I imagine EA will be keeping an eye on.
While I'd advise taking this news with a pinch of salt for now, I don't think FIFA making the jump from full-priced game to free-to-play is the most outrageous thing I've ever heard.
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Heck, you only have to look at how much FIFA Ultimate Team makes: $1.62 billion over the course of fiscal year 2021. EA could absolutely afford to make FIFA 23 free, relying only on the income FUT generates. I mean, we all know it won't and there'll definitely be plenty of new microtransactions shoved in there if the game does go free-to-play, but it could.
For now, let's just look forward to FIFA 22, which launches October 1.
Featured Image Credit: EA