28 March 2023 , 09:43
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EA Sports have issued a response after several NWSL players criticised the publisher for their appearance in FIFA 23.
As part of Title Update 9, the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and UEFA Women's Champions League (UWCL) were both added to FIFA 23 as EA continued to improve their coverage of women's football in-game. In total, 12 NWSL teams and four European teams were introduced in-game, whilst EA also included authentic kits, accessories, signature celebrations and more as part of their NWSL introduction.
A fantastic addition to FIFA 23 as women's football continues to take centre stage, but one factor that wasn't done fantastically was the star heads, with a handful of NWSL players calling out EA on social media, claiming they were misrepresented. And now, EA has issued a response, claiming they have addressed the issue.
On Friday, March 24, EA addressed the issue, releasing a short statement on its @EAFIFADirect Twitter account. The statement read "We’re aware of several issues with the depiction of certain players introduced in our latest update to FIFA 23.
We take representation very seriously, celebrating athlete diversity is vitally important, and we certainly didn’t mean any offense. Authentically representing athletes in game is an intensive and continual process, and we’ve made adjustments in the last 24 hours to address some of the issues that surfaced. We will progressively introduce updated representations of athletes in future patches."
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Houston Dash defender Caprice Dydasco was one of the first players to make their feelings clear, calling out EA on Twitter for how poorly represented she was. Dydasco said: "I’m grateful EA Sports is finally including the NWSL but this does not represent me. @EASPORTSFIFA"
Former Houston Dash striker and now Liverpool forward Katie Stengel replied to Dydasco with "Be grateful they gave you hair lol", showing that it's not only the NWSL players who aren't happy with how they look in-game. Dydasco uploaded a screenshot of her FIFA 23 self alongside a picture of her in action, and it's fair to say the two don't look alike.
Angel City's Sydney Leroux has been one of the more active on social media though, with the winger not happy with her appearance or the appearance of others. Quote Tweeting a video of her scoring a goal in FIFA 23, Leroux replied: "Please tell me I did not do an entire body scan for that…"
Leroux was also left baffled by the appearance of former Bristol City and Reading midfielder Jess Fishlock who is now playing for OL Reign, whilst also commenting on the appearance of San Diego Wave goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan, who has seemed to have been given a drastic update to her hair in-game.
Other players including Angel City's Madison Hammond have also complained about the appearance. There's potential that these players and more may receive some appearance updates in the near future with them all being added into the game halfway through FIFA 23's release, but for now, it's understandable why so many players have been left unhappy.