As FIFA 22 gets closer and closer to its inevitable reveal, fans of the series are likely wanting to know at least one thing among multiple other concerns: will FIFA 22 crossplay be a thing? While it likely won’t be announced until the game is, it’s still a question on many people’s minds.
When FIFA 21 was first announced, EA very quickly put the kibosh on whether or not the game would have cross-platform, even tweeting that crossplay didn’t exist in the game. But will that hold the same for 22? FIFA has never been cross-platform ever, so it’s unlikely that EA Sports will allow it to happen.
The main reason for this might very well be Playstation, which has repeatedly in the past refused to allow cross-platform on games without wanting developers that implement it to pay them a higher share of revenue to compensate for what Playstation terms as “lost” revenue. Since FIFA 22 is going to be on Playstation consoles, that will likely be an issue.
Even without FIFA 22 crossplay, the games are still highly successful on their respective consoles, so until that revenue becomes an issue, crossplay is unlikely to be of any kind of priority compared to other mechanics. However, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War supports cross-platform now, as well as EA’s flagship battle royale title Apex Legends, so there might still be hope.
The game might also be cross-generational, which could be another reason for not implementing cross-platform. Each console’s architecture might be too different from the next-generation consoles, so it might be that each game also has to stay to its own console that way.
We’ll probably have to wait for the official reveal date to see if FIFA 22 crossplay is actually ever coming, but hopefully this time around, players on the Xbox and Playstation consoles will be able to play with one another soon.