An ex-Counter Strike world champion has announced that he himself will be entering the football games market with Goals, giving Electronic Arts and Konami a new rival in the future.

Let’s allow Andreas Thorstensson to explain it all himself via a Twitter thread: “I am building my dream company – Goals! A next-gen football (soccer) game backed by amazing VCs and angel investors. It combines my deep interest in sports, gaming, eSports and new technology. After playing more than five thousand FIFA (FUT) matches and observing the eSports scene for a long time, it became painfully clear how broken it was with no signs of getting better. So we decided to fix it ourselves instead. To paraphrase Kevin Jordan on the origins of World of Warcraft: “We are going to make the greatest football game of all time.”

Goals is a AAA football game. Free-to-play, cross-play, multiplayer-first, and eSports ready. It will use a play to earn model where time spent, and skill in the game will be rewarded through digital assets (NFTs) so more people hopefully can make a living playing the game. Free-to-play opens up the football genre to more gamers, and cross-play allows friends to play no matter their platform of choice. We see no reason why the world’s largest sport shouldn’t be the world’s largest game. Multiplayer first means we will put a lot of resources into creating a fluid experience online to eliminate lag, latency and button delay, which is a big problem in football games today—basically taking a page out of the Valorant textbook.

Esports-ready means we will not use catch-up mechanics/rubber band effects/”handicap”, etc. The best gamers will win due to their skill and nothing else. We will put a lot of emphasis on a proper MMR system with tournaments and ladders. There are many misconceptions in terms of play to earn and NFT games (and challenges rightly so). And Chris Dixon’s essay “The next big thing will start out looking like a toy” from 10+ years ago also encapsulates this new movement in a great way. Many will dismiss it until it all of a sudden is mainstream. And that inflexion point is getting closer.

We are building this together with the community, significant learning from running SK Gaming. Already involving all kinds of players, from pro to casual, to keep it inclusive, on the game’s direction. We are a remote-first company with HQ in Stockholm, Sweden. We are currently hiring people to be part of the founding team: producers, tech directors, game designers, concept artists, character artists, NFT engineers, system programmers, gameplay programmers, community managers etc. All that matters, in the end, is to build a fantastic game. We are an ambitious new company with lofty goals. If you want to be part of shaping the future of gaming, please reach out,” Thorstensson wrote. JVL claims the game is in development for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series, but these tweets didn’t mention these platforms.

Is it a ballsy move on Thorstensson’s end? Yes! Can he bring change with him? We don’t see any reason why he can’t!

Source: JVL