FIFA 23 might face a new challenger to the footballing throne in the form of... a Lego Football game.
According to VGC, Lego has partnered with 2K Games to release several new sports-based titles inspired by its construction toys. The move comes as the brand is reportedly looking to expand its gaming output following the end of its exclusivity deal with TT Games.
If true this will be the first non-TT Games developed Lego title in over a decade - with its latest game, Lego Star Wars: The SkyWalker Saga, launching soon.
Official details aren’t yet available, however, it sounds like there are at least three Lego sports games currently in development. The first is a soccer game being worked on by Sumo Digital (Team Sonic Racing, Sackboy: A Big Adventure), which is expected to launch later this year to coincide with the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Then in 2023, we will supposedly be treated to an open-world Lego racing game that’s being worked on by Visual Concepts (WWE 2K22), followed by another game that will release even later based on a major sports franchise. Our guess would be either baseball or basketball.
Details aren’t yet clear - and with news leaking out it’s likely that we could hear something official soon - but this collaboration could see guest characters from Lego’s licenses get in on the action. That means we could see Harry Potter kicking a soccer ball around with Batman and Obi-Wan Kenobi; however, we’ll have to wait and see on that.
Opinion: please don't be a FIFA clone
This announcement is a surprise, to say the least, but is supposedly an effort by 2K to expand into games aimed at a younger audience. Bringing on a family-friendly partner like Lego certainly makes a lot of sense if it hopes to achieve these goals - though we’re skeptical of how deep the crossover between Lego and the sports will run.
Lego Racing makes some sense. Lego Technic cars have been a staple of the brand for the past few years and we could see some interesting customization options added to make the game feel more authentically Lego. Yet, we can’t see how similar ideas could be worked into a soccer game - or any other sport for that matter.
Sure some recent Lego sets have brought Old Trafford and the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium to life in brick-form, but these are adult-focused dioramas not reimaginings of the game of soccer using Lego bricks.
Given the success and inventiveness of the TT Games developed Lego titles we're hopeful that we won’t just be looking at a Lego plastic-skinned FIFA 23 knock-off. But with that studio not behind this project, we'll have to wait and see what 2K announces to find out more - if the game is indeed real.
And hey, at worst we’ll still have Mario Strikers Battle League to fall back on later this year if we’re after a more cartoony soccer game. And there's always Konami's eFootball too...
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