FIFA 23: Analyzing Latest Trailer and Career Mode Features

FIFA 23 is a landmark moment for the annual football powerhouse.

During a normal year, it would merely be a followup to the first truly next-generation feeling game in the series that hit the simulation feel well.

But FIFA 23 marks the end of the partnership between EA and FIFA, ending a 30-year run. Future football games put out by EA Sports will fall under the EA Sports FC banner as a result.

It's also a year where the series hopes again to make strides in various areas besides gameplay itself (though that certainly doesn't go unaddressed either).

The latest trailer for the upcoming game serves as the perfect example:

That's all about FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT), the collect-a-thon mode that gives players a variety of ways to build out rosters and earn further rewards.

One of the most notable things mentioned there is the arrival of FUT Moments, a new single-player mode within FUT that allows players to tackle many different challenges via moments within games. Perhaps even more interesting is the fact rewards dole out based on what difficulty a player selects.

It almost sounds like the mode could function as a tutorial for players if necessary while otherwise offering bite-sized play scenarios that let players invest as much time as they prefer.

Chemistry also gets re-tooled in FIFA 23 FUT. There are no longer restrictions on which positions can form chemistry, which should be a highlight for long-time players. That versatility, plus players now boasting secondary positions, means players have more freedom to construct rosters to their liking.

Crossplay is another major talking point for FUT. It makes the cut here with same-console-generation one-on-one modes while the transfer market itself will remain one global entity.

Besides FUT, one of the other major modes players always want to know about as soon as possible is career mode.

Last year's game finally gave the mode some love, with the club-based mode getting better customization, functionality and endless options. The individual-based mode offered much of the same, plus huge skill trees to grind out via a nice sense of progression.

Playable Highlights is one of the major additions to both styles of career mode. The game projects where the scoring moments of a match will be and then lets players assume control at those points.

A developer diary elaborated on the how and why:

"The highlights themselves are diverse both in terms of types and position on the pitch, replicating the variety of situations that can be encountered in regular matches. They range from typical positional attacks to numerical superiority counter attacks, solo runs, and all the way to set pieces, including free kicks, corners, penalties, and even throw-ins. In Playable Highlights you’ll see everything you’d normally expect in a match, but with less time to make an impact on the outcome, so you'll really have to make your chances count to be successful."

Again, it's another clear emphasis on bite-sized moments for players to grab on a whim. Instead of dedicating an hour or more to a normal-timed match, players can partake in the biggest moments and otherwise let a full match with realistic feeling stats and outcomes happen.

While the club-based mode offers the usual budget-managing tweaks and the ability to take control of real-world managers, arguably the other biggest addition happens in the individual-based mode.

There, a new detail called "personality points" loops in choices players make on the pitch and in their non-football lives. This permits the expansion of a created player's personality, with several classifications (such as Heartbeat, the heart of a club) then offering various bonuses and rewards.

Like in prior years, many of the planned upgrades within specific game modes sound like savvy additional layers atop what was already a solid foundational basis.

For players who like FUT and the two career modes, FIFA 23 indeed has the look of a can't-miss experience, beyond any upcoming partnership and name changes.