FIFA 23 brings big upgrades to the matchday experience

EA Sports has just announced all the visual and audio upgrades it is making in FIFA 23 to improve our matchday experience.

From realistic grass to stadium chants, here’s all the changes made to bring us the most realistic FIFA game to date.

The grass is always greener

The changes include a new hyper realistic grass system to give us a more believable pitch than ever before.

All of these small changes to the pitch add up to make major visual upgrades for the latest FIFA game.

We were lucky enough to attend EA’s producer showcase in Vancouver last month and senior art director Fab Muoio was excited to tell us about the new look for the pitch.

Players will no longer have to run around a flat, lifeless carpet of green.

From FIFA 23, the field will have blades of moving grass which degrade as you trample them down.

Previously, how worn down the grass looked was only based on how you adjusted a slider in the settings.

The new system shows how the pitch degrades over time, just like when you watch a real match.

While may seem insignificant, with every game released EA hopes to make the game look and feel more like the real thing.

You can see the boost it gives to gameplay in our FIFA 23 hands on preview where we talk about how satisfying it is to slide tackle and leave a churned up streak in your wake.

Crowd pleasers

The field isn’t the only part of the game that has seen big improvements. 

More life has been added into the crowds and they look better than ever.

It’s still not the same as entering into a real football stadium.

However, the spectators now react in sync to the biggest moments on the pitch, and their claps land right on time.

Most impressive is that Poznań celebrations have been improved, so the crowd will stand up, turn around, put their arms around each other’s shoulders, and bounce up and down.

This was added in FIFA 15, but was rarely seen as the spectators almost never quite synced up right.

The latest upgrades mean that these celebrations which require large groups of people can be carried out with style.

Back of the net

Did you know that in FIFA 22 the goal nets were still rendered in 2D?

For the first time in the series the last 2D element is gone, and you can score goals in a net with some depth.

And those goals will be shown to you from a better angle than ever before.

Augmented reality overlays have been enabled for the first time, and replay intelligence decides the best angle to show you your goals from.

You will now be able to see your match stats and distance hit to give you more real time feedback on your performance.

Free kicks have also been redesigned so you can see expected goals, distance, and improved player profiles when you select who should take the shot.

Along with all these improvements a pre-match sizzle reel will be shown before big matches with commentary from Derek Rae and Alex Scott.

Stadium sounds

While the FIFA soundtrack has always been a banger, FIFA 23 will let you create your own.

By uploading EA Trak into the game you can choose the music you listen to.

You can even turn off commentary if you are just looking to chill out and relax.

While Alex Scott is joining the commentary team, Stewart Robson will still be there to tell you all about the match.

The crowds have more to shout about too, as over 500 new chants have been added to their repertoire. 

All the ball sound effects have been re-recorded in better quality, and those playing on PS5 will be able to hear them come right out the controller.

It’s trying to mimic the atmosphere of watching a premier match on TV. The updates to the match experience put you in the place of any armchair fan.

FIFA 23 will release on September 30, but those you buy the Ultimate Edition will gain access three days early on September 27.

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.