It’s safe to say that EA Sports is going big on this, the 30th iteration of FIFA. The last FIFA before the rebrand. The FIFA that sees not one, but two World Cups in its cycle.
At its first hands-on producer showcase in Vancouver since before the pandemic, I had a chance to play an early build and speak to producers. They were confident in what they’re describing as the most inclusive, connected and authentic FIFA ever. And HyperMotion2 is a big reason why.
FIFA 22 has racked up over 9.7 billion matches played so far. For a game that the community constantly berates for its flaws, that’s a lot of matches.
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Still, EA Sports has built on that, adding 1v1 crossplay, redesigned set pieces, a spicy new power shot and the long-overdue addition of women’s club soccer (with the English and French leagues to start) to the game at launch. PC gamers finally get the next-gen build of FIFA, too. You can read more about the gameplay in our first preview. Reactions from the community have been lukewarm, to say the least.
Visually, as you’d expect, it looks better than FIFA 22. One producer took great satisfaction in describing improvements to the crowd, the pitch, and the overall presentation. All seemingly minor additions, but these marginal gains have stacked up into something miles ahead of FIFA 22, making matchday feel almost like the real thing.
Right at the core of gameplay developments is HyperMotion2. This is the claim by Lead Gameplay Producer Sam Rivera, who goes on to tell us that EA is “trying to do as much as we can in terms of animations” because “variety is very important” in the development of FIFA 23.
All those little things are definitely gonna change how the game is played,” he adds.