FIFA 23 New Chemistry System Changes Explained – How it impacts play

It has been a while since EA Sports made any major change within the mechanisms used in their FIFA games. In the past, they were criticized for lack of changes to the game systems and the manner of communication between players. In fact, the same game mechanics and systems were used since FIFA 15.

FIFA 23 will finally have a new chemistry system implemented in the game, with major changes to how one can build their starting 11. As such, the change has brought a lot of optimism to FIFA 23 and the new depth of play.

Since the launch of the FIFA Ultimate Team and the announcement of the new FIFA Transfer Market, the chemistry system has been a topic of debate. Until FIFA 20 players couldn’t change their team in the desired formation during the game without pausing the game at the start. Previous each player had a total amount of 10 chemistry points and teams maxed out at 100. The higher the chemistry of the team and of the player, the more bonus stats that were allocated to each player.

Based on how the player wanted to add the bonus stats, chemistry styles were added. Each kind of Chemistry style is tradable and can be bought on the transfer market. This added another layer to the economics of the transfer markets. The Hunter Chemistry style for the longest time was the rarest and as such the most expensive card available to snipe.

How will Chemistry work in FIFA 23 Ultimate Team?

The major change to how chemistry works in FIFA 23 is that each player will have a total of only 3 points. As such the team instead of 100 will now only have 33 points. If both the player and team chemistry is the highest, then that player will be allocated with the most bonus stats. Another major point is that now the manager won’t provide any form of chemistry to the team. The methods how a player can gain chemistry points are as follows:

• Firstly, a player will gain chemistry by having a player or more from the same team. As such a player will require a minimum of 2 players from the same team to gain one point
• The second method to gain chemistry is having a team consisting of players who play in the same league as well. The minimum amount of players needed to fulfil these criteria is 3. For a player to gain one chemistry point their team needs to consist of a minimum of 3 players from the same league.
• The last method to gain chemistry is by having players who are of the same nationality. Similar to how league chemistry works, there need to be 3 players from the same nation in a team of 11.

In previous iterations of the game, players had to make sure that they begin in a certain formation to get the most links. But in FIFA 23 there isn’t the presence of chemistry links between players. As such two players from the same team can be on either side of the starting 11. For example, we can have Raheem Sterling on the left wing and Reece James in the right back position as well.

Why is the FIFA23 chemistry system changing?

A similar kind of chemistry was first introduced in FIFA Mobile. Within this system players could play a card in multiple positions while the only stat affected would be their bonus stats. As such there wasn’t a reduction in their in-game stats. In the old system of FIFA players who were out of position to position would have base chemistry of 3. This would result in the reduction of their card stats in-game. In the new system, a player out of position will only have the same stats on their card without any changes. The second idea which has been adapted from FIFA Mobile is the ability for a player to have more than one position in the game.

If we take the example of the Prime Icon Frank Lampard, it is speculated to have a 91-rated card. As Frank Lampard during his playing career had played in various positions such as CM, CDM, CAM & CF. In FIFA 23 there is a position change card that is available for various positions as such. If someone felt to play Frank Lampard in the CF position, then they can apply for the position change card. In a compatible formation, this would allow the player card to gain bonus chemistry stats. This major change has been implemented as the previous system was quite rigid in player fluidity.

If a player’s position is RW, then they would only be allowed to change it to RM. If someone wished to play the player in the RB position. The player would be out of position and not gain chemistry. This in turn took a toll on the total team chemistry as it didn’t allow the team chemistry to load up to 100. The new system allows the player flexibility that the community has been asking for.