Yesterday was a big day for FIFA 23 hardcore fans as the game officially launched for those who had already purchased the Ultimate Edition, that being said, the first few hours didn’t provide a pleasant experience for players as most users faced network error when trying to play Ultimate Team.
As reported by EuroGamer, the Ultimate Team mode was unavailable when the Early Access officially began on September 27. Both PlayStation and Xbox versions couldn’t connect to EA Servers, which was then confirmed by the official Twitter account of the game. That being said, it took the developers only two hours after confirming the issue to open the servers and let the players enjoy their new Ultimate Team journey.
Regarding the fact that the worldwide launch has been set for September 30, it remains unknown whether something similar would happen at the time of the official launch or not. FIFA 23 is supposed to feature cross-play between all platforms at launch, which could put even more pressure on the EA Servers when a lot of players from across the world try to receive access to the game at launch.
Even if you don’t own the Ultimate Edition of the game, you can now play FIFA 23 for up to 10 hours for free using your EA Play or Game Pass Ultimate subscription. This trial access has been reportedly activated on September 26.
Those who have pre-ordered the Standard Edition of FIFA 23 can now start pre-loading the game. The game will be available in the earlier hours of September 30 in Europe, but if you need the exact release time, you should take a look here.
FIFA 23 is the last title in the series that launches under the name of FIFA, the next iterations of the franchise will be launched as EA Sports FC, but Electronic Arts has promised to keep the license agreements despite terminating its contract with FIFA. That being said, the end of its partnership with FIFA might not allow Electronic Arts to officially license international tournaments such as future World Cups.