The rivalry between elite football clubs is already fierce, but it has just been shot into new territory. More than 20 soccer teams from all over the world are set to appear in Fortnite via a partnership with the video game’s publisher Epic Games. The deals were facilitated by Fortnite’s licensing representative, IMG.
Beginning on January 23, Fortnite players will be able to choose from ten different options of the new ‘Kickoff Set’ outfits for the 23 participating teams, including Juventus, Manchester City, Inter, AC Milan, West Ham United, Celtic, Schalke, Rangers, Sevilla, LAFC and Sporting CP.
“Fortnite has been around for over three years now,” said Nate Nanzer, Head of Global Partnerships at Epic Games, while talking to CNN Sport. “We’ve spent a lot of time listening to our players and having conversations with them about what do they want to see next.
“Overwhelmingly, the sport that we hear from our players that is most wanted to come to the game is global football, soccer.”
The deal between football clubs and Epic Games will allow users to represent teams from the A-League, Bundesliga, Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A, j1 League, Major League Soccer(MLS), La Liga, Premier League, Scottish Premiership, Primiera Liga and Serie A.
In addition to new skins for players of the popular video game, users will also be able to join certain clubs in hosted Fortnite tournaments, while they will also have the chance to earn or purchase two new soccer-themed emotes, which are victory dances used while playing the game.
The other clubs that will be featured in the game are AS Roma, Atlanta United, Cerezo Osaka, Esporte Clube Bahia, Melbourne FC, Santos, Sydney FC, Seattle Sounders, Vfl Wolfsburg, Western Sydney Wanderers and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
As a game with 350 million registered users as of last year, Fortnite represents widespread outreach potential for sports clubs and only emphasizes the opportunities of burgeoning digital markets in a time when people are spending an increasing amount of time online.
