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UFL sees PC launch between May and August

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Game, launched in December, has hit 3 mln downloads

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Mobile version planned for 2026

By Zaheer Kachwala

Feb 3 (Reuters) - Cristiano Ronaldo-backed UFL plans to

launch a PC edition in summer and a mobile version next year,

the CEO behind the studio that made the soccer videogame said,

looking to take advantage of a slowdown at industry leader

Electronic Arts ( EA ).

The free-to-play game that was launched in December on

Sony's PlayStation 5 and Microsoft's Xbox Series consoles has

already hit more than 3 million downloads.

Since the studio, Strikerz, lacks the rights to use many

official team kits, it partnered with professional footballers'

union FIFPro to feature popular players.

"I would expect the PC (version) to be released somewhere

between the end of spring and summer...between May and August,"

Strikerz founder Eugene Nashilov said in interview to Reuters.

The game could be an alternative to EA's "FC", formerly

"FIFA" games, which has dominated the football gaming world for

more than two decades with their yearly releases and licensing

deals, several gamers and analysts have said.

"In the coming months, maybe February, maybe March, we are

expecting to have an alpha test on PC," Nashilov said, as the

studio looks to develop features that would be exclusive to PC.

One of the selling points of UFL is it is free to play, a

formula that Nashilov would like to keep as monetization is

focused more on paid downloadable content such as a career mode.

For comparison, EA "FC 25" costs $70 in the U.S.

The studio has also planned several updates to the game this

year to improve functions such as "reputation" - a currency

which can be used to buy players.

Unlike the annual launches of EA's soccer title, UFL is

taking a live-service approach where the game gets frequent

updates to add new content, fix issues and make changes.

Yearly launches were partly to blame for the

underperformance of EA's newest soccer title, Nashilov said,

echoing a view shared by some gamers who argue EA should take

more time to bring in significant game-play changes.

Still, with around 18 million to 20 million people playing

EA's online multi-player mode Ultimate Team, according to

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, the company remains

a juggernaut that will be tough to challenge.

Player reviews for UFL have been poor with a user score of

3.4 out of 10 on review website Metacritic with most of the

complaints relating to the sluggish movement mechanics. "FC 25"

however has a lower user rating of 2.6.

The game is backed by soccer superstar Ronaldo who joined

the project along with a team of investors more than two years

ago and is also a minority stakeholder.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun

Koyyur)