FIFA 23 will be the last FIFA game EA Sports will develop and that also means it’s EA’s last chance to make a statement to FIFA fans. On 4 August EA came out with a blog post from their Career Mode team where they explain and introduce the new features included in EA’s final rendition of the football simulator.

As someone who loves Career Mode, I can say that EA is definitely sending off FIFA 23 with a bang. This looks like it will be the most immersive Career Mode experience to date, so let me give you all a rundown.

Playable Highlights

One of the biggest challenges in career mode is deciding whether to dedicate time to play each and every match or to play it risky with a quick sim. Well the Career Mode team has developed an alternative which is “Playable Highlights”.

Essentially it’s a quick sim but instead of skipping right to the end result, you watch as certain events occur and if it’s a goal-scoring opportunity, you’ll be able to go in and play it yourself. If you’ve played the Football Manager games then you’ll be familiar with the concept.

As a manager, you can choose to play all of the highlights in a match or to play only the attacking ones by allowing the simulation to decide the defensive outcomes. This way, all your gameplay focus can go towards the attacking aspect of the sport if that’s what you prefer.

As a player, similar to playing a full match, Playable Highlights offers two options, controlling the entire team or just the player you began your career with. If you choose to play controlling only your player, the system will only show highlights that your player is actively involved in, while resolving other highlights in the background.

Additionally, Playable Highlights adapts to both being a starting XI player and a bench player. The objectives for both cases adjust appropriately to fit the bite-sized format.

Main Menu Overhaul

The main menu is also receiving a cosmetic overhaul as it’s been redesigned so that you can have faster access to your areas of interest. They’ve also brought more contextual information forward such as your squad depth, the players whose contracts are about to expire, or the most promising players in your Youth Academy. This information is surfaced more prominently in FIFA 23, meaning that you don’t have to access as many layers of menus in order to find the information you’re looking for.

Dynamic Moments

Dynamic Moments is a collection of cinematics which will accompany your progression throughout the Career Mode experience in both Manager and Player Career, with the aim of making your journey more immersive and memorable.

There are seven bespoke Dynamic Moments you can experience in your Career, each of them tied to various achievements or events that you might encounter on your path to stardom, from the very first moment you enter the club.

Making it into the club’s starting XI in Player Career or dealing in the transfer market in Manager Career can trigger more cinematics for you to discover as you play.

Manager Career

Play As A Real Manager

Ever wanted to play as Jose Mourinho change up his approach to football? Well now you can as FIFA 23 enables you to play as one of the 350+ authentic football managers, of which 30+ have star heads, in Career Mode.

Upon selecting the manager of your choice, you can customize their outfit and decide on the club they’ll be in charge of. You have the option of continuing to build a legacy at an authentic manager’s current club, picking a different club to start at, or even creating a new club for the manager to lead to glory.

Transfer Analyst

In short, what the Transfer Analyst does is that it allows you to see how certain players you’ve scouted fit into your team. You’ll be able to compare your existing players with the ones you have scouted. Buying a player whose overall rating is superior to your squad average will result in a good squad impact rating.

Each time you sell a player the Transfer Analyst will look at the current players in the position of the departed player to determine if you have a solid replacement, if you could still use a backup option, or if you have a highly promising talent in the current squad that can become a future star.

There are five different ratings that the Transfer Analyst can provide for the financial aspect of your transfers, ranging from A (for high-quality business deals) to F (for deals that financially don’t make too much sense). You’ll be able to find a transfer deal’s financial rating on the left side of the screen, right after completing an incoming or outgoing deal.

Create Custom Club Improvements

After long-request, you will now have the ability to customize your club’s third kit as well as your goalkeepers’ kit. In addition to this, you also have the option to edit the details of your players before you start your career. This gives you more control over your entire squad’s characteristics as you embark on your journey.

Player Career

Player Personality

The Player Personality feature allows you to shape your virtual personality and get Attribute benefits from doing so. The aim is to deliver a fluid personality system that drives a deeper personal connection to your player and lets you define their character on and off the pitch.

By performing certain actions on and off of the pitch you will gain Personality Points that will accumulate and expand your personality, giving you access to benefits detailed which you can find in the official blog post.

Your behaviour and decisions on the pitch will be closely monitored by the Player Personality system in FIFA 23, for example, every time you decide between connecting with a teammate or keeping the ball a little longer to set up the shot for yourself will shape the kind of player you are. These kinds of decisions contribute to three distinct personality types that impact your Attributes.

• Maverick – A goal chaser who acts on intuition, seeking stardom on and off the pitch. They’re more individualistic in general, focusing on their own achievements. They’re ambitious and will pursue their objectives without hesitation. Apart from their drive for achievements, a more lavish lifestyle can be generated by a Maverick’s aura, but this of course takes nothing away from their flawless professional athlete lifestyle.
• Virtuoso – Skillful and intelligent, relying on their ability to change the course of matches in the blink of an eye. Completely focused on their performance, they are also ambitious, but most of their battles are internal. They aim to demonstrate they are capable of putting their stamp on the game while achieving their goals. They are rather humble, focusing their finances and influence on getting to their athletic goals more efficiently.
• Heartbeat – The foundation of a team, reading the game ahead of their opponent and dominating through willpower, determination and resilience. Their top priority is to be sure that the whole team benefits from their presence, they’re not caring so much about personal awards on the shelf, but more about trying their best to fill the team’s trophy cabinet. They are always ready to help, give advice, and leave no one behind. Finances and influence are often used for charitable purposes.

For more information feel free to check out other features that I chose not to include here on EA’s official blog post.