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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Technology
Alan Martin

The World Cup is coming to FIFA 23 for free

FIFA 23 World Cup mode

(Picture: EA)

FIFA 23 is fifa-premier-league-la-liga-mls-b2076337.html">EA Sports’ last year to use the licence, and the developer is getting the most out of it by bringing the upcoming FIFA World Cup to the game as a free update on every platform, except the Nintendo Switch.

Dropping on November 9, the mode will bring all 32 of the nations that qualified for this winter’s festivities in Qatar via a free update.

But there’s also hope for fans of Scotland and Northern Ireland, with EA Sports promising that “select teams that didn’t make it to the finals” will be available to sub in as fans see fit.

If you prefer a more authentic experience, EA plans to keep the game updated in real time. With Your FIFA World Cup mode, players can choose a starting point from the current or past match days, with the game drawing in starting line-ups match stats, and standings from the real-world tournament.

Qatar solo (or multiplayer)

While players are free to tinker with the groups and teams to play the game solo, EA also has plans for the ever-popular online multiplayer mode.

Online Tournament Mode will allow fans to fight through the knockout stages with any qualified nation, squaring up against other players around the world.

And, of course, the money-spinning FIFA Ultimate Team gets a bit of the World Cup glitz as well. EA is promising that new FUT campaigns will be released between November 11 and December 23. Expect items for your virtual fantasy team to arrive throughout the tournament, including kits, stadium dressings, visuals, match balls, and more.

And, as the stars of the real-world tournament emerge before the eyes of the world, fans can expect to see them immortalised in a new class of World Cup FUT Phenoms.

The update is arriving on November 9 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

The only omission from that list is the Nintendo Switch, which has to make do with a legacy version of FIFA 22, meaning it inherited the same engine and gameplay as its predecessor. Presumably, that meant that the World Cup elements couldn’t be ported over easily enough to make it worth doing for EA.

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