Combining one of many greatest sports activities licenses with one of many strongest launches of a blockchain sport in 2025 to date, Legendary Video games’ FIFA Rivals has introduced over a million cell downloads.
So the right alternative to ask CEO John Linden some questions concerning the sport, the response of gamers to a few of its extra stunning options, and what’s subsequent.
What’s the early response been to FIFA Rivals?
John Linden: The early response has been superb. It’s already develop into one of many top-performing web3 video games when it comes to energetic customers. We’ve seen over one million gamers leap in, with 1000’s partaking each day in on-chain exercise. What’s most fun is that between the sport itself and culturally resonant partnerships just like the one we have now with adidas, it’s a really mainstream crowd.
The sport feels extra NFT-focused than NFL Rivals. Is that by design?
Sure, primarily, FIFA Rivals is constructed on lots of the learnings from NFL Rivals, however we additionally needed to push the boundaries additional right here. We had a possibility to check deeper integration of digital possession mechanics proper out of the gate, given FIFA’s world enchantment and our expectations on the secondary market it could command.
It’s nonetheless free-to-play at its core, however we made a aware effort to offer onchain property extra presence within the moment-to-moment gameplay and development. So yeah, extra NFT-focused by design, however nonetheless very a lot balanced and accessible.
Have you ever seen a lot crossover between NFL Rivals and FIFA Rivals gamers?
We’re beginning to see it, and that’s thrilling. Certainly one of our huge long-term targets at Legendary is interoperability — each when it comes to identification and worth. We’ve received gamers who reduce their enamel in NFL Rivals and at the moment are moving into FIFA, and we’re taking a look at methods to make that transition really feel extra seamless, even rewarding. The power to maneuver worth throughout video games within the type of tokens or standing is a route we’re very dedicated to exploring.
We’re additionally seeing this play out in an attention-grabbing manner geographically, with gamers in nations the place the NFL isn’t represented closely, now dicing into NFL Rivals and vice versa, as a result of there’s now extra publicity after coming into the Legendary gaming ecosystem
The sport is pretty aggressive when it comes to the Contract/gasoline idea. Has there been any kickback in opposition to that?
We’ve undoubtedly heard suggestions, which we welcome — it’s a part of how we iterate. The Contract mechanic is designed to strengthen the worth of owned gamers and guarantee a constant technique and circulate in team-building selections. Nonetheless, we’re watching carefully to make sure it doesn’t really feel punitive.
That is a type of areas the place we’re discovering the correct steadiness, continuously monitoring, tuning and adjusting primarily based on information and neighborhood enter.
What’s been the constraints when it comes to getting soccer participant rights for the sport? How do you count on to broaden the library over time?Any time you’re working with real-world athletes and world federations, there’s a posh licensing panorama.
With FIFA and FIFPro, we’ve received entry to a robust set of gamers out of the gate, and we’re already increasing that by extra rights offers, signing golf equipment and leagues as we communicate, with the objective of an inclusive sport that includes all of the leagues, nations, golf equipment, and gamers.
You’ll see extra legends, nationwide crew icons, and membership gamers roll out as we go.
The usage of Fragments as rewards that encourage new gamers into {the marketplace}, whereas additionally permitting whales to flex is a intelligent transfer. The place did the inspiration come from?
We’ve been pondering loads about scalable, sustainable web3 economies — how one can create programs that aren’t only for high spenders but in addition invite informal gamers to interact meaningfully. As a result of everybody needs one thing legendary, proper?
To amass the rarest gadgets within the sport, however in attention-grabbing and incentivizing ways in which nonetheless profit the secondary economic system. Fragments got here out of that pondering.
We checked out conventional free-to-play crafting mechanics and requested: what does this appear like onchain? How can a more moderen participant work their manner towards premium gadgets, whereas giving superior gamers a option to unlock higher-tier flexes?
It’s a win-win dynamic that helps the entire participant base.
Discover out extra on the FIFA Rivals web site.
