Two news stories on football-themed MMOs has made me wonder about the opportunities and challenges in that space, given that there's clearly plenty of investment in them. CyberSports' Football Superstars MMO (pictured), which is due to launch later this year, has just announced a deal to include Vivox' voice chat technology in the game. Meanwhile, it'll face competition from Interzone Futebol, which is the work of a company named Interzone, and also due to launch by the end of the year.
My immediate reaction was to wonder how popular football MMOs could be, if they were just focused around matches where each virtual player is controlled by a different human. Not least because it raises the prospect of playground-style matches with 22 people chasing after the ball. What’s more, such games would face competition from console football games like FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer, which now come with online modes as standard.
However, both Football Superstars and Interzone Futebol are looking beyond that, focusing on the career around your footballer. So it’s as much about training up your skills, developing your career by moving clubs, buying items to improve your stats (this is where the business model comes in, presumably), and even socialising - Football Superstars will apparently have two virtual towns to go out in, including bars, restaurants and shops.
It’s these aspects that could find these games an audience, although there remain some concerns - how do you get enough people who want to play in the less glamorous positions like goalkeeper? Meanwhile, there’s an argument that a football-themed MMO is better focusing on the management aspect, such as Football Manager Live and CM-Online, which are taking the PC rivalry of Championship Manager and Football Manager into the online field.
Still, with MMOs still identified in many people’s heads with wizards and dragons, it’s good to see different themes being explored. Roll on the fourth quarter, when Football Superstars and Interzone Futebol are due to launch.
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