EA successfully predicted World Cup winners fourth time in a row as Argentina lift trophy after nail-biting final

In the action-packed FIFA World Cup final, EA's prediction came true as Argentina clinched their third World Cup after beating defending champions France in penalty shootouts. This is the fourth time in a row that the developers have correctly predicted the tournament's winners, having declared Spain, Germany, and France as the last three World Cup victors.

Last month, Electronic Arts ran a detailed simulation in FIFA 23 and correctly foretold that the Argentine squad would take home the Cup, granting Messi the long-coveted trophy. However, that is about all that EA got right because most of the knockout stages played out quite differently in real life compared to what the developer had thought would happen.

While the predicted final was between Latin American giants Brazil and Argentina, it was the French side that took on La Albiceleste in real life. The match saw a nail-biting finisher after Mbappe's hat trick took the game into the penalties. However, EA's simulation in FIFA 23 said the final would end 1-0 in Argentina's favor.

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EA's World Cup predictions: FIFA 23 simulation vs. real-life numbers

FIFA 23 is EA's latest football game and has been fairly well-received by players around the world. With many new state-of-the-art features added to the title, it is probably the closest a game has ever been to simulating real-life sports. The offering lived up to this claim by once again predicting the winner of the World Cup.

Having said that, there were quite a lot of things that the simulation was incorrect about. Here are some of the biggest differences between what Electronic Arts had predicted and what actually happened in Qatar.

While Messi's contribution to Argentina's victory is undeniable, EA had believed that the GOAT would receive the Golden Boot with a total of eight goals. But Mbappe, with his historic hat trick in the final game, slipped past Messi's seven goals to bag the trophy. The Argentine did take home the Player of the Tournament award, though.

Also, Brazil did not live up to the sim's expectations, having been eliminated in the quarterfinals after losing to Croatia in the penalty shootouts. Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal failed to enter the semifinals, which is not what EA predicted. The simulation suggested the team would lose to Brazil in the second-to-last stage of the event. However, they lost to Morocco.

Morocco was not even included in the knockout stages, as per the FIFA 23 simulation. However, in what has been hailed as one of the biggest upsets in modern-day World Cups, the side knocked European powerhouses Portugal, Spain, Germany, and Belgium out of the tournament.

Having said that, the FIFA 23 sim has been predicting the correct World Cup winners for four years in a row, cementing its position as the premier football simulation program in the world.