Kylian Mbappe was the EA Sports FC (formerly FIFA) cover star, but not anymore. Kylian Mbappe isn't on EA Sports FC's cover. In fact, the French forward appears to be the only one.
His opponent at Manchester City, Erling Haaland, is front and center in the game. The likes of Marcus Rashford, Vinicius Jr., Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka have all made the front row, with legends like Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho and David Beckham also making it. Women's stars like Sam Kerr, Marta and Leah Williamson are there. Even Pele and Johan Cruyff, who are both no longer with us, made the lineup.
It's curious, then, that Mbappe, who was the star of the past three EA games, has been totally missed by the rebrand. If EA fancied a change, why did Sam Kerr, Mbappe's FIFA 23 cover star, make the cut? Perhaps there's something deeper to this.
Cast your mind back to summer 2018, when EA was about to release the third installment of The Journey, their blockbuster story mode. This followed fledgling attacker Alex Hunter's leading his Premier League side to glory, inexplicably being turfed out to the MLS (which was weird), before returning to Europe's elite.
FIFA 18 was huge, with the second chapter of The Journey featuring cameos from Antoine Griezmann, Dele Alli, Thomas Muller, Rio Ferdinand, Thierry Henry, and Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese was the cover star, too, screaming on the cover in his Real Madrid shirt. So the plan was obvious for FIFA 19 when Hunter moved to Los Blancos: Ronaldo was surely set to feature more heavily?
Only Ronaldo pursued a shock move to Juventus in 2019, and the final installment of The Journey felt muted compared to the other two. In fact, EA had to switch the game cover from a photo of Ronaldo in a Real shirt to one of him in a Juve top.
Fast-forward to 2023, and EA takes no chances. According to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, Paris Saint-Germain want Mbappe to leave now rather than for free next summer; the player himself denies leaving.
Sure, the video game could carry a picture of Mbappe wearing his national jersey, but that's a navy blue Nike top and looks from a distance like PSG's. The away kit doesn't help either; it's white. With the Frenchman's future looking particularly bleak, it's obvious to leave him off the cover this time around.
Other players on the cover aren't facing such turbulent times in the near term. Saka and Rashford are on the brink of new deals, Bellingham has added a club, and Haaland isn't leaving soon.
blogpay
Total Comments: 0