EA and FIFA’s partnership of 30 years has come to close with this year’s FIFA 23, but more FIFA-branded games are on the way from other developers in the form of “future-focused web 3.0” titles, according to a press release shared by the football association today. Among them are AI League: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Edition and FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in the Upland Metaverse, the latter of which will allow players to buy and sell virtual properties as part of what is said to be the largest blockchain-based metaverse mapped to the real world. All center around the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 event and represent “FIFA’s wider strategy to expand into new gaming spaces and reach new fans around the world.”
The four titles include:
- Altered State Machine – AI League: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Edition
- AI League is a 4-on-4 casual football game, played between AI-controlled characters, with player input at fun and tactical moments. Players act as the coach and owner of their AI teams and can improve their abilities through power-ups and training. Players can also collect and trade characters to create a team with their favourite talent combinations. The playing fields are set in stylized streetball locations around the world, from Paris to Rio, Yaoundé to Seoul.
- Uplandme – FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in the Upland Metaverse
- Upland is the largest blockchain-based metaverse mapped to the real world, where players can buy and sell virtual properties. Now they can collect official FIFA World Cup digital assets, including legendary video highlights of the tournament. They can travel to the replica FIFA World Cup Lusail Stadium and Village, shop for items representing their colours to customize their home in Upland, trade their assets with friends, and win one of many prizes.
- Matchday – Matchday Challenge: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Edition
- Matchday targets the emotional high of football fandom through a highly engaging casual social prediction game based on football cards, where the essence of the fun is derived not just from “getting it right” but by being the best among your friends.
- Phygtl – FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on Phygtl
- Phygtl, a fan engagement mobile application that takes fandom into a new dimension. An immersive experience fans join forces on with the mission to co-create the global first fan generate digital reward. Fans can augment a golden-globe-football from the palm of their hands into their real-life environment, own a limited fragment of it to attach and eternalize their handpicked FIFA World Cup pictures and video moments. A digital representation of eternal fandom.
“This is a hugely exciting group of partnerships that we’ve entered into as we embrace a new, digitally-native football fan and engage with them in the spaces that we know they are already active within,” said Romy Gai, FIFA Chief Business Officer. “As we continue to build our gaming strategy long into future, it’s certain that web 3.0 will have an important role to play, and this marks the start of our journey.”
From a FIFA press release:
Gaming and esports are some of the fastest-growing opportunities for FIFA as it continues to expand into new digital spaces, platforms and games that are already welcoming football fans on to them.
With the communities growing organically, FIFA is expanding into new digital spaces – having earlier this year launched a landmark Roblox experience.
The new gaming integrations, all of which are designed with web 3.0 and the future of digital engagement in mind, are playable around the tournament and each have a unique twist on the globe’s biggest football tournament.