FIFA 23 may face a new challenger to the football throne in the form of… a game of Lego Football.
According to VGC, Lego has partnered with 2K Games to release several new sports-based titles inspired by their construction toys. The move comes as the brand is looking to expand its game production following the end of its exclusive deal with TT Games.
If true, this will be the first Lego title developed outside of TT Games in over a decade – with its latest game, Lego Star Wars: The SkyWalker Sagawill be released soon.
Official details are not yet available, however it appears that 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 Great Adventure), which is due to be released later this year to coincide with the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
So in 2023, we’re supposed to have an open-world Lego racing game that’s being worked on by Visual Concepts (WWE 2K22), followed by another game to be released even later based on a major sports franchise. Our guess would be baseball or basketball.
Details are still unclear – and with the news leaking out, it’s likely we’ll hear something official soon – but this collaboration could see guest characters from Lego licenses come into action. That means we could see Harry Potter kicking a soccer ball with Batman and Obi wan Kenobi; however, we will have to wait and see that.
Opinion: Please don’t be a FIFA clone
This announcement comes as a surprise, to say the least, but is reportedly an effort by 2K to expand into games aimed at a younger audience. Bringing in a familiar partner like Lego certainly makes a lot of sense if you hope to achieve those goals – although we’re skeptical about how deep the crossover between Lego and sports will go.
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 more authentically Lego. However, we can’t see how similar ideas can be worked into a game of football – or any other sport.
Of course, some recent Lego sets have brought old trafford and the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium to life in brick form, but these are adult-focused dioramas and not reimaginings of the football game using Lego bricks.
Given the success and inventiveness of Lego titles developed by TT Games, we hope we’re not just looking at a plastic Lego FIFA 23 knockoff. 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, worst case we’ll still have Mario Strikers Battle League to come back later this year if we’re after a more cartoonish football game. and there is always Konami’s eFootball also…
