FIFA Is Reportedly Going Free-to-Play

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Is FIFA going free-to-play? Well, according to a new report it is, but not in time for FIFA 22 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. This week, Konami announced that PES -- FIFA's one and only space rival -- is no longer PES, but eFootball, and free-to-play. Upon this announcement, many wondered when and if FIFA would follow suit and go free-to-play itself. Well, it's not going free-to-play with FIFA 22, but according to a new report, FIFA 23 will be free-to-play.

The report -- which comes the way of FIFA insider, Donk -- not only claims FIFA 23 will be free-to-play, but that it will add cross-play to the series. While the latter is easy enough to imagine, it's difficult to imagine FIFA going free-to-play, even after its only competition went free-to-play. Why? Because it doesn't need to. FIFA sells big numbers each and every year. That said, the bulk of its revenue isn't actually game sales, but microtransactions, and to that end, a free-to-play model makes sense.

Free to play 🤝 Cross platform #FIFA23
— Donk | #FIFA22 (@DonkTrading) July 17, 2021

For now, take all of this with a grain of salt. Everything here is not only unofficial but subject to change. At the moment of publishing, EA has not commented on any of this. We don't expect this to change, but if it does, we will be sure to update the story accordingly.

If FIFA is going free-to-play with FIFA 23, we won't hear about it until next summer when the installment is revealed. And while it may seem like a move fans will be universally receptive to, this just isn't the case. There was considerable backlash -- for a variety of reasons -- from PES fans when Konami announced the name change and the new free-to-play model, and this will also happen when and if FIFA follows suit.

FIFA 22 is set to release on October 1, 2021 via the PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.