Soccer governing body FIFA, together with New York-based development studio Enver, has announced FIFA Heroes, a new 5v5 arcade-style soccer (or “football”, for the enlightened) game coming to consoles and mobile next year.
Per a press release, FIFA Heroes will be “an arcade fast 5-a-side” game with “fantasy flair”, and it’ll feature iconic FIFA mascots, “football’s biggest icons, and your favorite fictional characters from iconic TV shows and films”.
Enver and FIFA are promising “dynamic physics and pitch-shattering power moves”, so it’s pretty clear that this isn’t an EA Sports FC-style realistic simulation, as if the larger-than-life cast list outlined above didn’t already give the (beautiful) game away.
The game will feature both PvE and PvP play modes; Enver and FIFA say you’ll be able to “tackle PvE before going head to head with your mates” across “arcade fast matches and challenges”, which will also help you “progress your club through PvE career milestones”.
If you’re a football aficionado, you’ll know that the World Cup next year is being held across three host countries, and each of those countries’ mascots is represented here: Maple for Canada, Clutch for the US, and Zayu for Mexico.
They’re just three of the playable characters in FIFA Heroes, each of whom will have “their own super abilities and special moves”, although it’s not clear whether that’s true of all of the playables or just the mascots.
You can check out the debut trailer for FIFA Heroes right here, although it’s worth saying that it’s more of a concept piece, since there’s no identifiable gameplay in the trailer.
FIFA Heroes is the latest officially-licensed FIFA game to be announced since EA decided to part ways with the organization back in 2022, changing the name of its iconic FIFA franchise to EA Sports FC.
In October last year, FIFA chose Konami as its new esports partner following the split, although the governing body still hasn’t chosen a flagship developer alongside whom to move forward with any kind of EA Sports FC competitor.
That has not, however, stopped FIFA from pursuing experiments in other areas, including the unveiling of a range of Web3-related games to coincide with the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Will the same thing happen for next year’s tournament? We can only wait and see.
