EA shared some financial results yesterday, and these included a slide that listed the company’s 2023 Fiscal Year “Title Slate.” On it were a number of titles we expect to release this year, such as Madden NFL 23, NHL 23, and a new Need For Speed game. However, that’s where the known quantities end, save for the next EA Sports PGA Tour which was delayed to early 2023, because Quarter 4, which encompasses the January 2023 to March 2023 time period, contains four unknowns: Major IP, Partner Title, Remake, and Sports Title.
EA notes on the slide that these four titles scheduled for Q4 of the 2023 Fiscal Year “have not yet been publicly disclosed,” which is why the names of those games aren’t listed on the slide. However, those unknowns have us thinking, and theorizing, what they might be.
Here’s what we think those four unknown EA games could be:
Let’s begin with probably the easiest one: Remake. It has to be EA Motive’s Dead Space remake, right? Revealed less than a year ago in July of 2021, the development team revealed new details about the remake, including the desire to have zero loading screens. Since then, Motive has hosted multiple behind-the-scenes looks at the game, with the most recent one happening back in March. There, the team revealed a new look at Dead Space Remake gameplay and teases an early 2023 release.
Early next year would slot nicely into that FY2023 Q4, considering that window is January 2023 to March 2023, wouldn’t it? On top of that, EA hasn’t revealed any other remakes it has in the works. There might rumors of some, but in terms of confirmed remakes (and it’d be odd for an unconfirmed remake to release in early 2023 before the Dead Space remake, in my opinion), Dead Space is the only one.
Moving on, what could the sports title be? Game Informer editor Brian Shea predicts it could be a new UFC title. He says EA’s UFC franchise usually operates on a two-year cycle, or at least it has been for the past four years with 2020’s EA Sports UFC 4 being the most recent in the series. Two years from 2020 would be 2022, right? However, if EA were to follow its two-year cycle, we presumably would have seen EA Sports UFC 5 on the slide somewhere in this year’s releases but alas, it wasn’t there.
With that in mind, an early 2023 release would make the most sense for a new UFC title. Perhaps the game had a short internal delay as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic or maybe the team simply needed more time. Regardless, amongst EA’s sports catalogue, which saw a major shakeup yesterday after the publisher revealed it will no longer be making FIFA-branded soccer games, UFC makes the most sense for the FY23 Q4 window.
Up next? Probably the biggest unknown: the partner title. Honestly, this could be anything really. A partner title likely implies a deal EA has made with a third-party studio to publish a game. The most well-known example of this for EA is its relationship with Josef Fares’ Hazelight, which is the studio behind A Way Out and The Game Awards 2021 Game of the Year, It Takes Two. With It Takes Two releasing just last year, it seems highly unlikely that Hazelight has another game ready to go for FY23 Q4.
That leaves the door wide open: this partnership could be with any studio, really, so to speculate further doesn’t make too much sense. However, personally, I’m hoping EA has contracted a studio to remake SSX Tricky because god, why can’t I play that game on modern consoles today?
Last but certainly not least is the major IP title. I feel pretty confident in saying this is going to be Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2, a sequel we already know is in the works. Mind you, the game might have a different title because the actual name of the game hasn’t been confirmed, but Fallen Order 2 has a nice ring to it so we’ll stick with that until EA says something different.
The first Fallen Order was released in 2019, so an early 2023 release means Respawn Entertainment would have had more than three years to develop this sequel. Plus, Fallen Order was a great foundation for a follow-up. The combat doesn’t need a complete revamp – maybe just some tweaks here and there – and the Star Wars universe makes picking iconic locations a breeze considering there are so many. Plus, Fallen Order’s narrative has made it clear where a sequel could go.
With Star Wars Celebration right around the corner, we’re betting Fallen Order 2 gets its big reveal there and we’re hoping and crossing all our fingers that Respawn says there it’s aiming for a release sometime between January 2023 and March 2023 (because that would mean my prediction was correct but more importantly, it means we’ll get to play what will probably be a great Star Wars game soon).
Of course, this major IP could really be anything – Respawn is actually working on two other Star Wars games, too – but EA doesn’t really have anything publicly revealed lined up, other than Fallen Order 2. While waiting to see if this prediction is right, read about what we want to see from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2.
And those are our best guesses for these four unknown titles. It’s your turn now, though: what do you think these four unknown games are? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: www.gameinformer.com