How to Finally Fix "EA Anticheat Service encountered an error" in FIFA 23

As a long-time FIFA player and gaming tech expert, I know how frustrating it is to fire up the latest version of your favorite game only to be slammed with the dreaded "EA Anticheat Service encountered an error" message.

Believe me, I feel your pain! This bizarre bug has been preventing tons of eager FIFA fans from enjoying FIFA 23 ever since it launched.

But don‘t worry – I‘ve dug into this issue and want to help you get FIFA 23 working again. In this detailed guide, I‘ll walk you step-by-step through why this error happens and multiple proven solutions to fix it.

Stick with me, and we‘ll have you back on the pitch in no time!

Why Does This Obnoxious Anticheat Error Pop Up?

To understand why this error rudely interrupts your game, you first need to know what the EA Anticheat Service is and why it‘s included with FIFA 23.

EA‘s Anticheat technology runs in the background of many of their games as a way to detect and prevent cheating and hacking. When you launch FIFA 23, it initializes the Anticheat Service to scan your system and make sure everything is legit.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a glitch in the latest version of the Anticheat software that throws an error for some players when it fails to properly start up and do its scanning routine.

EA has already confirmed this is a bug on their end that they are "investigating." My expert guess is we‘ll see an official patch to fix the Anticheat error in the near future.

But in the meantime, you want to play FIFA 23 now! Let‘s get this error crushed.

Potential Fix #1: Give the EA/Origin App a Swift Admin Kick

Sometimes all it takes is a quick slap of admin access to get pesky apps working properly! Here‘s how to launch your platform‘s app with admin rights:

If You‘re on Windows 11:

Find the EA app shortcut on your desktop or Start menu
Right click on it
Select "Run as administrator" from the menu
When prompted, click Yes to confirm

Got Windows 10 Instead?

Locate the EA or Origin app shortcut
Right click on the shortcut
Click "More"
Choose "Run as administrator"
Agree to the prompt

Now when you launch FIFA 23 from the app, the game and Anticheat software should initialize with the enhanced permissions that come with admin access. Many players have reported this alone does the trick!

Try Uninstalling Those Other Annoying Anti-Cheat Apps

If you‘re like me, you‘ve probably got anti-cheat apps like FACEIT or VAC installed for various games in your library. The problem is sometimes these apps clash with EA‘s Anticheat Service.

My advice? Kick those intruders off your system (at least temporarily) and see if it fixes the issue.

Here are the steps to fully uninstall other anti-cheat apps:

Open Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features
Find and select the anti-cheat app (FACEIT, VAC, etc)
Click Uninstall at the top and confirm
Repeat for any other anti-cheat platforms you have
Restart your computer when complete

With those out of the way, try launching FIFA 23 again and enjoy the game in peace without annoying errors!

Down the road you can reinstall the other anti-cheat apps one by one and see if any trigger the Anticheat error again. My money is on FACEIT being the culprit.

Attempt a Fresh Anticheat Installation

If you still aren‘t victorious over the error message, it‘s time to break out the big guns and do a fresh install of the EA Anticheat software itself. Here are the steps:

Open your Origin/EA library
Right click on FIFA 23
Select “__Installer” from the menu
Click on “EAAntiCheat” in the installer folder
Double click “EAAntiCheat.Installer”
When prompted, choose “Uninstall”
After it‘s uninstalled, select “Install” to reinstall a fresh copy
Fingers crossed this fresh install works! Try launching FIFA 23 again.

Based on my experience, a clean reinstallation of the Anticheat software fixes many errors like this by replacing any corrupted files with a clean set. It‘s a bit of work but worth a shot.

Quarantine Your Antivirus Software

Here‘s an spicy fix to try – completely disable your antivirus software for a bit.

Why? Some antivirus packages detect false positives with the FIFA Anticheat tool and incorrectly flag it as dangerous. This leads to conflicts and errors.

You have two options to muzzle your antivirus:

Temporarily Disable Real-Time Protection

Open your antivirus software
Find the “Real-Time Protection” or “Auto-Protect” shield
Disable or pause protection for 15 minutes
Try launching FIFA 23
Re-enable protection after testing

Add Exceptions

Open your antivirus settings
Find the exceptions/exclusions tab
Add exceptions for the Origin/EA app folder and FIFA 23 folder
This will make the antivirus ignore these folders
Test launching FIFA 23 again

With your antivirus neutered, FIFA 23 should initialize smoothly without interference. Remember to re-enable protection after confirming the game works!

Still Seeing the Error? Time to Call for Backup!

If you‘ve tried all the steps above and are still getting trolled by the “Anticheat Service encountered an error” message, it‘s time to go DEFCON 1 and contact EA‘s support team.

Here‘s how to call in the cavalry:

Open your browser and go to https://help.ea.com/en/contact-us/
Select FIFA 23 as the game you need help with
Choose your platform (PC, Xbox, etc)
Click "Technical Support" then "I still need help"
Select "Chat with an advisor" or "Request a call" for live support

Explain the error message you‘re seeing and the troubleshooting steps you‘ve tried. The EA support reps have additional tools and workarounds up their sleeves and should hopefully get you back on the field ASAP!

If all else fails, just sit tight until EA (hopefully) rolls out a patch to address the root cause of the Anticheat error. But for now, use the nuclear options above to enjoy FIFA while you can!

Let me know in the comments if any of these tips did the trick for you. And don‘t worry, we‘ll get this error tackled together so you can get back to climbing the leaderboards soon!