FIFA Rivals launched across iOS and Android on Thursday, and developer Mythical Games believes that the mobile blockchain game could make a massively larger impact than its earlier American football game, NFL Rivals.

The licensed mobile soccer game is rolling out with a multi-year licensing agreement with giant sportswear brand Adidas. As a result, the game will feature Adidas-sponsored athletes, including Lionel Messi—widely considered one of the greatest soccer players of all time—along with collectible, tradable gear.

John Linden, co-founder and CEO of Mythical Games, told Decrypt that announcing the game was an eye-opening experience, as the studio felt the full force of soccer’s (or football’s) international popularity. Major brands, athletes, football organizations, and even the government of a small country have reached out to get involved in the game, he said.

“The affinity to football is just so much greater than anything I think I’ve ever understood,” Linden explained. “The addressable market of football worldwide is a little over half of the world’s population—roughly five billion consumers around the world—so it’s a big market for us.”

Mythical Games launched NFL Rivals two years ago, which it defines as a success with over seven million players to date. But Linden believes that FIFA Rivals could be 20 times bigger. This figure comes from his comparison of existing soccer games to American football games.

It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but the PC version of top soccer game EA FC 25 had 108,534 concurrent players at its all-time peak in January, according to Steam Charts. When compared to Madden NFL 25’s high of 5,905 in December, the sheer size of soccer is apparent—18 times bigger, to be precise.

And a free-to-play mobile game like FIFA Rivals is bound to reach a much wider audience, including casual players. For example, EA FC Mobile has racked up more than 500 million downloads on Android alone, not counting the iOS audience. That potential reach has propelled partnership interest around FIFA Rivals, Linden said.

“We’re getting hit up on a very global basis. We’re seeing interest from countries that are normally overlooked by game developers, just because it’s not necessarily a top 10 market,” Linden told Decrypt. “I won’t mention the country yet, but [the governing body] reached out, and said: Look, we have to partner with you, because this game will be massive in our country.”

Mythical Games added that Adidas is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of brand partnerships. Linden said there has been interest in groups that the studio has never worked with before, such as telecom firms.

The blockchain gaming studio undoubtedly hopes for such success, having signed a contract with FIFA that will run through “multiple sets of World Cups”—the quadrennial soccer tournament that next returns in 2026.

FIFA recently announced that it will migrate its NFT collectibles platform FIFA Collect to its own Avalanche L1 blockchain, departing Algorand in the process. FIFA Rivals, meanwhile, is built on the Mythos chain, a Polkadot-based gaming network that was spearheaded by Mythical Games.

Linden added that FIFA has reached out to Mythical Games to try to “make some things happen” on FIFA’s Avalanche L1. 

Lessons from the field

Through two years of supporting NFL Rivals, Linden said the studio has learned how to balance its “living economy,” which allows players to freely trade in-game players like Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The challenge was figuring out how to make assets for new seasons feel valuable without crashing the price of old ones. 

Now, as NFL Rivals enters the third season in August, Mythical Games is “doubling, tripling down” on the product now that it is well past the economic experimentation phase. 

“We’re going to be adding a lot more marketing now that we’re very confident in what works and what doesn’t,” Linden told Decrypt. “We’re going [to add] a lot more quality—a lot more focus on PvP, where you’ll see brand new animation models, you’ll see brand new characters, and you’re gonna see brand new stadiums.”

From this experience, Mythical Games has taken a number of learnings into the launch of FIFA Rivals. Considering that the average European spends less money on gaming than the average American, the soccer gaming economy has shifted to be driven more by skill.

Later this year, FIFA Rivals is expected to introduce an “AI sports agent” that will “guide [players] through their journey.” Plus, Linden said there will be a barrage of esports competitions, club collaborations, and new game modes added.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

HUTCHINSON

— Come the fall semester, Ridgewater College in Hutchinson will have another club team, but this time operating in the digital world.

Ridgewater is launching an esports club to “give students the opportunity to join competitive gaming teams, participate in tournaments and develop skills in game strategy, teamwork, and digital media in a newly created gaming lounge,” according to a news release from the two-year college.

Esports will run as a “club sport,” similar to Ridgewater’s clay target teams. The only eligibility requirement is to be enrolled as a part- or full-time student at Ridgewater. All experience levels are invited to participate.

Ridgewater Dean of Students Heidi Olson proposed the program in 2024 to expand student life opportunities for students on the Hutchinson campus. The Hutchinson campus does not have a gymnasium like the Willmar campus, and thus doesn’t host sports such as volleyball, basketball and wrestling.

“This is an activity that has grown in recent years,” Olson said in the release. This school year, more than 100 Minnesota high schools and 2,000 Minnesota high school students participated in esports clubs and teams.

“We hope that allowing high school students to continue to compete at the college level will offer them a next step for making connections and taking on challenges in a fun way while training for careers at Ridgewater College,” she said.

Nondestructive Testing Technology instructor Sheldon Mackinnon has been hired to coach and launch the new program.

“Games are great at stimulating our critical thinking by having us make split-second decisions that can win or lose you the game,” Mackinnon said.

He will share his love of and enthusiasm for gaming with students.

“When we fail, we rethink, we strategize and we try and try again until we win,” Mackinnon said. “The video games I played while growing up have shaped who I am today.”

Follow the development of the Ridgewater esports club on the Ridgewater Warrior Athletics website at

www.ridgewaterathletics.com.

How do you market entertainment experiences that span physical casinos, online gaming, and sports betting?

In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, Jennifer Weissman, CMO of PENN Entertainment, shares how the company creates cohesive customer journeys across 42 casinos, racetracks, and digital platforms. 

From a time when showing casino floors in ads was prohibited to today’s gamified loyalty ecosystems, Jennifer dives into regulatory shifts, customer lifetime value, and gamification beyond traditional gaming.

At PENN Entertainment, Jennifer Weissman has spent nearly a decade building marketing strategies across physical and digital gaming experiences. Starting her career in PR for casinos near Memphis, she brings journalism education, an MBA from Northwestern, and deep expertise in regulated marketing to one of the most dynamic sectors in entertainment.

Unlocking the Creator Economy with Awin

Did you know influencer marketing drives twice as many sales as display advertising, with a 37% higher retention rate? 

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Episode highlights:

[06:42] The Psychology of Gamification — Jennifer explains the broader appeal: “Companies that do a really good job with engagement have figured out how to gamify the loyalty experience. They give me hurdles that I need to meet, which really is they give me dollars I need to spend in order to feel really good about myself and unlocking more dollars that then I can spend with them.”

[10:24] The Journey Over Destination — On what drives customer engagement: “People aren’t gambling because they think they’re gonna win something really big. They’re gambling because they love the thrill of the game, and they like to do this with their entertainment dollar. They really just wanna spend a bit of time away from the everyday and have that escape.”