Two years after the disappearance of its acronym attached to the best -selling football simulation game in the world, FIFA, the international federation, returns to video games with “FIFA Rivals”, where stars of the round ball with superpowers challenge themselves in a free downloaded title on the phone.
Next summer
Its launch is announced for next summer, but it could be released before the Club World Cup, under the aegis of FIFA, which begins on June 14 in the United States.
The American game creation of “Mythical Games is the partner developer of FIFA Rivals”, a spokesman for the World Football Institution based in Zurich, and Bacon Games, said in AFP, based in Bogota, is “one of the studios working on the product”.
“Arcade style mobile”
“Live the experience of mobile football in arcade style with a frantic rhythm,” says Mythical Games on its website. “Dominate your opponents during live events and league tournaments. Have cards from digital players exclusive to the image of your favorite FIFA stars. Activate the super mode to release bonuses and abilities that change the situation and surpass your opponents. ”
“FIFA Rivals” is inspired by “NFL Rivals”, an American football game on phone developed by Mythical Games in 2023.
In “FIFA Rivals”, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Kylian Mbappé or even Zlatan Ibrahimovic are more like cartoons of cartoons: fine legs, prominent chest, they make perilous jumps, surround themselves with flames and unravel overpowering in a line of light, as can be seen on a line of light Trailer on Youtube.
No research here of hyper realism as in the annual versions of the Electronic Arts football simulation (EA), now called “EA Sports FC” after the end in 2023 of the collaboration between FIFA and the American publisher Electronic Arts.
At the end of a competition which opposed him for almost 20 years to his rival Pro Evolution Soccer (PES), Japanese Konami, the FIFA games of Electronic Arts ended up being one of the best -selling brands in video game history, with more than 325 million copies since the first episode in 1993.
At the time of their breakup, the “New York Times” estimated that the saga had generated more than $ 20 billion in almost 30 years.
Today, “EA Sports FC 25” continues to dominate the annual classification of the best sales in France, with more than 1.5 million copies sold in 2024, ahead of the blockbuster “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6”.
In Bogota, the group of forties of the Bacon Games Creation studio are experts in technology, design and 3D models and give FIFA Rivals of the drawing drawings in bright colors.
“Not a simulation game”
The game is looking for “its own identity, we do not want to be a simulation game, (…) But we also do not want to be on the other side of the spectrum of more whimsical games”, explains to AFP Jairo Nieto, executive director of Bacon Games. He believes that “FIFA Rivals” could quickly reach more than ten million downloads.
“The idea is not to achieve realism, but rather a kind of character abstraction” stars, explains Andrés Hernández, a 3D artist from Bacon Games.
It is a video game that “combines two very nice things: players of real life, championships of real life, but who carry out dream actions”, explains Juan Duque, in charge of digitally creating the movements of these footballers with the appearance of superheroes.
“Rematch”, another rival
Chance of the calendar, another football game, developed by the French studio Sloclap, is also due to be created on June 19.
Planned on PC, Xbox Series and PlayStation 5, “Rematch” shares the colorful graphic style of “FIFA Rivals” but offers to incarnate a player on the lawn in matches at 5 against 5 emphasizing speed and technical gestures.
