It may sound ridiculous considering this year’s installment only released over a month ago, but EA is most definitely already planning out next year’s FIFA title. Considering it needs to release a new entry every year, production probably started before FIFA 22 was even out. There are plenty of questions surrounding the future of the FIFA series at the moment, but it at least sounds like EA plans on doubling down on customization content.
According to a job listing at EA Sports posted on LinkedIn, the company is looking to hire someone to serve as a producer/product owner/creative for the FIFA series. While the listing doesn’t mention it by name, whoever gets the job would be responsible for bringing customization content to players in the live-service, which has to be referring to FIFA's Ultimate Team mode.
It adds that EA is already looking over the next 3+ years of content, saying that customization content will be critical for both players and the business. It doesn’t provide any specific examples of what customization FIFA fans can expect aside from cosmetics and vanity items, which already seemed like a given.
FIFA 22 features customization options for players, kits, club crests, and even stadiums, so it’s probably safe to assume that these will all be brought back for FIFA 23. As for cosmetics, EA has already begun experimenting with selling items one normally wouldn’t see in a football sim. The first set of cosmetics that arrived shortly after launch, for example, were all anime themed. Perhaps EA is thinking of continuing this trend and creating more varied player cosmetics so players can truly make their own unique team to take online.
One interesting detail about the listing is how it still refers to the series by the FIFA name, adding that the chosen applicant will partner with a FIFA art team. Only last month, EA suggested it was thinking of dropping the FIFA name, supposedly because it doesn’t want pay $1 billion to keep using it.
Following this, the FIFA organizaiton itself released its own statement about how it has entered negotiations with other developers as part of its plans to expand its presence within the gaming sphere. Basically, there could be an entirely new generation of FIFA games in the future that aren’t from EA. EA may already have a new name for its football games going forward, but it has likely stuck to using the FIFA name in the job listing for simplicity’s sake and to avoid any potential confusion.