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EA Sports celebrates its best goal parties to mark FIFA 23’s record-breaking launch. The football or soccer simulator brought in 10.3 million players in its first week, the highest ever in franchise history.
These new players translated into a huge growth in playing time. In its first 23 days, FIFA 23 accumulated 15.7 billion minutes or just 262 million hours of total playing time. This equates to approximately 11.4 million hours of play per day on average. Compared to FIFA 22s first 22 daysthis year’s release averaged 22% more hours played per day in the initial release period.
FIFA 23 has made deals with additional leagues and clubs to add additional (exclusive) content to the franchise. In particular, EA Sports has invested in deals with several top women’s leagues, such as the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Furthermore, Apple TV’s Ted Lasso branded FIFA 23 content is a big hit with fans. EA Sports reports that players have led AFC Richmond to more than 1 million wins to date.
With Electronic Arts and FIFA’s exclusivity deal expiring at the end of 2022, this release still benefits from FIFA’s branding. Next year, the football release of EA Sports will be called EA Sports FC. Time will tell if this brand change will impact sales, but investors will likely compare its performance to FIFA 23’s unprecedented success.
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