Messi, Ronaldo and Mbappé now perform impossible acrobatics in a videogame with a Colombian seal. This is FIFA Rivals, FIFA's new bid to reconnect with the gamer public and conquer cell phones.

FIFA returns to the world of video games, but it does so with an unexpected formula. After almost three decades dominating the sector together with EA Sports with the successful FIFA simulator, the world's top soccer organization returns with a radically different title: FIFA Rivals, a videogame for cell phones designed in Bogotá, where the rules of realism are left behind to make way for a universe of soccer superheroes, vibrant colors and acrobatic moves.

The project, developed by the Colombian studio Bacon Games in alliance with the American company Mythical Games, represents a change of paradigm. It is no longer a matter of imitating soccer as in EA Sports FC (the new name of the franchise after breaking its contract in 2022), but of reinterpreting it in a fantastic key: in FIFA Rivals, the great stars of the sport such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé and Zlatan Ibrahimovic perform penalty kicks wrapped in fire, rise several meters above the ground and run around the field leaving trails of light.

From an office in Bogota, a group of designers, programmers and 3D artists -most of them 40-somethings with experience in technology and animation- are shaping this new vision of digital football. The visual style is reminiscent of cartoons: exaggerated bodies, marked muscles, cartoonish faces and amplified movements. But behind the artistic line there is a clear intention: to offer a different experience without losing the link with professional soccer.

"The goal is not to look like a simulator, but not to go to the other extreme of pure fantasy games either," explains Jairo Nieto, CEO of Bacon Games, describing the approach guiding the development of FIFA Rivals. Unlike the old FIFA, which sold for around $70, this new title will be free to download, with a business model based on microtransactions: users will be able to purchase players with special abilities and customize their team. Alejandro González is the other founder of the Colombian company that has achieved great goals in the virtual world.

The launch is scheduled for the days leading up to the Club World Cup, which kicks off on June 14 in the United States. The choice is no coincidence: this is the first club tournament organized under the new 32-team format, a global showcase that promises to capture the attention of millions of fans. This is precisely the target audience for the videogame: young people, soccer fans, mobile device users, regular consumers of digital content and fans of official licenses.

In the first previews released by FIFA and available on YouTube, players can be seen performing stunts typical of action movies. "It's a video game that combines two very cool things: real-life players and real championships, but the moves are dreamlike," sums up Juan Duque, one of the creative team's animators.

This mix is what the project proposes as its hallmark: a plausible environment, with well-known names and official tournaments, but where the laws of sport and gravity are broken to offer pure spectacle. Each player is given his own artistic imprint: Ronaldo appears with a more robust torso, Ibrahimovic with marked cheekbones and an exaggerated nose. The aim is not to replicate their image exactly, but to interpret it. "The idea is not to achieve realism, but a kind of abstraction of the characters," says Andrés Hernández, 3D artist at Bacon Games.

Since its conception, FIFA Rivals has been seen as a "milestone" for the video game industry in Colombia. Although the country has grown in talent and digital exports, it is still far from the sector's powerhouses in Asia, Europe and North America. This opportunity to collaborate directly with FIFA places the Bogota team at the center of an international showcase.

But it also presents a challenge: to win back a global community that for years identified with the traditional simulator. Now, with EA Sports FC still competing and other popular franchises such as Pro Evolution Soccer still in the collective memory, FIFA Rivals is betting on something different: not to emulate the past, but to offer a new way of playing.

The question is whether the gaming public - accustomed to hyper-realistic graphics, detailed licenses and competitive modes - will accept this shift towards animated spectacle. What is certain is that, for the first time, the ball will once again roll on a virtual pitch under the FIFA label, but with fire, jumping and fantasy aesthetics.

With information from AFP