FIFA 23 players calling for Benzema & Messi changes already

Ryan Lemay
Benzema FIFA 23

Karim Benzema asserted himself as one of the best footballers in the world in 2022, and Lionel Messi’s reputation goes without saying. Soon-to-be FIFA 23 players are calling for much-needed cosmetic changes for both world-class players already.

FIFA 23’s gameplay changes announcement went over well with the game’s community. However, two glaring glitches in the gameplay trailer and outdated player models prevented a perfect reveal day.

The team of developers use motion capture technology and face scanning to deliver the most authentic player models. EA Vancouver has a team of specialists that travel the world and photograph the best football players in a studio.

The motion-captured images in the studio translate into the faces and player models we see in-game. The FIFA 23 gameplay trailer showed off stunningly realistic players, but fans are not happy with how two of the game’s elite stars are looking.

Messi FIFA 23
Lionel Messi should still be an amazing player in FIFA 23.

FIFA players respond to ‘outdated’ Messi and Benzema player models

Reddit user Daroku64 created a thread asking why Benzema and Messi haven’t received new face scans in years.

One Reddit user theorized, “Messi is a PES ambassador,” so that’s why EA can’t update his face scan.

Another player stated, “maybe Messi and Benzema don’t want to, or don’t care to do the scan.

A third player pointed out, “Ronaldo’s in-game model hasn’t been updated since 2016. He’s not that bulky and doesn’t run as he does in-game.”

Whether or not this will change as time goes on remains to be seen, but based on early gameplay, fans are certainly frustrated by the lack of new face scans for these two stars.

Whether that will be the case for other elite athletes in FIFA 23 remains to be seen – we’ll have to wait for EA Play early access.