FIFA 23 dev explains how new pace system will shake up FUT meta

FIFA 23 introduces a new acceleration system that drastically changes how different players use their pace, and the game’s gameplay design director thinks it could impact the Ultimate Team meta.

After months of build-up, FIFA 23 has opened its turnstiles and fans are flooding to see what EA SPORTS has in store for them this year. There are plenty of new features to enjoy, from FUT Moments to crossplay support, but there are also HyperMotion 2 gameplay changes that need to be experienced to be fully appreciated.

One of these on-the-pitch innovations is the new AcceleRATE system, which sorts every player into one of three archetypes when it comes to their pace: Explosive, Lengthy, and Controlled.

Explosive players are quick off the line and can put their pace down right away, Lengthy means they take time to accelerate but are very fast once up to speed, and Controlled is a middle point between the two.

Pace has always been of the most crucial stats in a FIFA game, and fans are immediately drawn to Ultimate Team cards that excel in that area, no matter the position.

AcceleRATE marks this biggest change we’ve seen to speed in many years, and, in an exclusive interview with Dexerto, FIFA 23’s gameplay design director Kantcho Dokov explained that the system came from watching real-world stars.

“It’s all about the different ways that players accelerate and we saw this when we looked at real football,” said Doskov. “We noticed that even a player like Van Dijk, he’s actually very fast it just takes them a little bit longer to get up to speed.

“But not just that, he can accelerate when he’s running fast, like you can be sprinting but then he can step into an extra gear to sprint even faster. Whereas other players like Mbappe can get off the mark so quickly and go from zero to 100 in a few steps.”

Fans reading this will be most interested to see how the Ultimate Team meta benefits from the feature. Pace has often been the most important stat in the entire mode, and even top-rated players who aren’t the fastest, such as Harry Kane or Mats Hummels, have been virtually unusable after a few weeks.

Kantcho Doskov felt that AcceleRATE could bring some of those players a new lease of life, and the team isn’t opposed to tweaking things to ensure the balance is just right.

“Players who may not have the highest pace – but they can accelerate over longer distances – I think it makes them useful,” he continued. “It brings more variety into the way players run and accelerate, so I think it’s good for the game in general.

“How it plays out with the FUT meta, we’ll see. But I’m cautiously optimistic that it’ll work out and if it doesn’t, we always have the live tuning [updates] to try to rebalance it throughout the year.”

Only time will tell how the new pace setup plays out, especially once the Ultimate Team season kicks into top gear with weekly promos and heavily-boosted cards. Hopefully, the changes mean that FIFA 23 will support more playstyles and team setups than ever before.