John Linden, the CEO of Mythical, predicts that FIFA Rivals has the potential to draw in more than 100 million gamers to the Web3 platform.
FIFA Rivals, a free-to-play soccer game available on iOS and Android, has been officially launched by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the blockchain gaming studio Mythical Games.
FIFA Rivals, expected to be released in the summer of 2025, will enable players to manage their soccer clubs and engage in real-time arcade gameplay against other players.
Mythical’s pitch to sports enthusiasts included, “Create your legacy, dominate the competition, and build your squad in the newest title.”
John Linden, the company’s CEO, stated that FIFA Rivals has the potential to attract more than 100 million gamers, as its NFL Rivals game has already attracted over 6 million players from a much smaller audience.
To provide context, the 2022 FIFA World Cup was viewed by approximately 5 billion individuals, while the NFL playoffs were viewed by approximately 500 million individuals last year.
FIFA Rivals will be secured by the Polkadot network and powered by the Mythos blockchain, which Mythical supports.
The partnership is part of a burgeoning trend in which sporting associations collaborate with blockchain gaming studios to provide fans with engaging and interactive experiences.
Blockchain games are designed to appeal to players by allowing them to acquire in-game assets and monetize them in a play-to-earn economy.
One of Mythical’s early successes was a social build and created a nonfungible token game known as Blankos Block Party. It has since been transferred to Polkadot, and approximately three million monthly transactions have been made.
The Mythos Foundation, which Mythical established in October 2022 to facilitate the onboarding and support of new developers and gamers in its ecosystem, was instrumental in developing FIFA Rivals.
The Mythos Foundation is responsible for developing cross-chain infrastructure and NFT in-game economies, providing support for gaming guilds, expanding traditional esports participation in Web3, and collaborating with conventional gaming platforms to create new gaming policies.
In June 2023, Mythical obtained $37 million in Series C1 funding, which it utilized to expand its marketplace and pursue additional revenue-generating initiatives.