Img Deal Brings Football To Fortnite
Epic Games has partnered with 23 football clubs around the world to bring football to Fortnite via a deal facilitated by Fortnite’s licensing representative, IMG.
The agreement will allow Fortnite players to choose from 10 different variants of new ‘Kickoff Set’ outfits to represent their favorite club in-game, with each outfit able to be swapped to any of the 23 football clubs participating, which features teams from a host of leagues around the world including the Premier League, Scottish Premiership, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga and MLS.
From 24th January, players will also be able to earn or purchase two new emotes, including a “Fancy Footwork” dribbling emote.
“We’ve had a lot of fun working with our partners at Epic Games and football clubs from around the world to help bring this unique in-game experience to life,” said Matthew Primack, Senior Vice President, Licensing, IMG.
“This is a truly international collaboration, tapping into clubs from almost every continent and offering fans the opportunity to express their passion for the beautiful game and their favorite team through the trailblazing world of Fortnite.”
Nate Nanzer, Global Partnership Head, Epic Games, added: “Football is consistently one of the top sports that our players tell us they want to see and experience in Fortnite.
“We’re excited to partner with IMG to bring the sport to ‘Fortnite’ fans around the world as they face off in competitive tournaments, experience new creative modes of gameplay and celebrate global football.”
The news will also see clubs create their own tournaments off the back of the deal, with Manchester City – one of the participating clubs – teaming up with its existing partner FaZe Clan to create the FaZe City Cup, a tournament which will take place before the licensing deal comes into place on 24th January.
The open-to-public event will be the first Fortnite tournament held by the Premier League club and FaZe Clan and will see the top 50 duos pairings (which represents the top 100 players) earn early access to the Manchester City skin and special in-game emotes.
Nuria Tarre, Chief Marketing Officer, City Football Group, said: “The FaZe City Cup featuring Fortnite is an exciting first for the club in one of the most popular gaming titles globally and we hope fans worldwide will get involved in the competition and wear their Manchester City outfits in-game with pride.”
“Given their significant existing presence within Fortnite, we are delighted to partner with FaZe Clan on this competition. It is further testament to our partnership with FaZe Clan, through which we will continue to explore opportunities to bring our fans new and immersive ways to engage with the club.”
Along with City, participating clubs include Premier League sides Wolves and West Ham, Serie A giants Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Roma, and Scottish Premiership rivals Celtic and Rangers.
