Kylian Mbappe and Sam Kerr are on the FIFA 23 Ultimate Edition Cover

FIFA 23’s Ultimate Edition cover will feature Sam Kerr and Kylian Mbappe, EA Sports has revealed.

While this is the third time Paris Saint-Germain star man Mbappe has graced the sleeve of EA’s flagship football sim, Chelsea Women and Australia International Kerr is the first female football player to make the cover since the series’ inception in 1993.

This recognition comes following incredible goalscoring seasons for both Mbappe and Kerr, who scored 28 and 20 goals respectively to claim the Golden Boot top-scoring prizes in their leagues as well as the domestic titles in Ligue 1 and the WSL.

This is set to be the final Ultimate edition cover ever, since EA and FIFA have agreed to part ways after nearly 30 years. After FIFA 23, the world football governing body will no longer provide the licences to the world’s most popular football game, with EA instead pulling on a more disparate network of partners to lend authenticity to proceedings.

Following the end of the partnership, EA’s premier football offering will be called EA Sports FC.

Apparently, one of the main sticking points that led to the end of the deal was FIFA trying to wiggle out of an exclusive arrangement with EA to let other developers create FIFA-branded games. So while this might be the last sports simulation game of its kind we see licensed by FIFA for a while, it might not be the last FIFA game we see altogether.

Despite the switch, EA Sports FC will supposedly still have most, if not all, of the immersive licences available in FIFA 22 and FIFA 23, including player names, team kits and badges, and competitions by negotiating with players unions, leagues and sportswear manufacturers individually.

While no firm release date has been confirmed for FIFA 23, past FIFA games have always dropped around the end of September or start of October, with a demo showing off new features usually appearing around a month earlier.