Legendary football club opens club house in virtual 3D sports gaming world

The club house also hosts an in-game character who offers football missions which have been specially created to reflect the Barça’s very unique style of play. In order to welcome fans of FC Barcelona to Empire of Sports, a special football contest has been specifically designed.

Starting today, the“Barça Opening Contest” will be open to all players with a newly created avatar, and will run over the next three weeks until Saturday 13 June 2009. Progress of all new avatars will be recorded each day and at the end of the three weeks, one date will be drawn at random. The player who achieved the highest number of football ranking points during this time will win a real life collector’s item: a Barça shirt signed by Lionel Messi!

A virtual club and dedicated competitions

The virtual Barça Club will soon provide Empire of Sports’ players with some exciting new opportunities: a big Barça competition will be organized for all in-game football teams to take part in, and an in-game annual membership will be available for subscription, which will not only grant avatars access to a virtual VIP suite, but will also offer them additional privileges. Full details of the VIP membership and the big Barça competition will be announced shortly.

Joan Laporta, President of FC Barcelona, said: “We are delighted to partner with Empire of Sports and work closely with our fans online. The idea of having a FC Barça virtual club house in an online world dedicated to sport is mind blowing. It takes our motto ‘more than a club’ to a whole new level – and we hope that our presence in Empire of Sports will continue to increase the level of support for both FC Barcelona and football.”

Alexis Galley, CEO of Empire of Sports, said: “We couldn’t ask for a more prestigious partner than FC Barcelona. We are really proud to welcome them into our virtual world of sport and give them the space to work closely with their fans and supporters. Empire of Sports has limitless potential and offers amazing opportunities to our ever-growing list of partners– the fact that worldwide brands such as FC Barcelona see this opportunity, only serves to strengthen our confidence in making the first worldwide sports-based gaming platform.”

Empire of Sports is currently in the Prologue phase: this phase allows the game to expand progressively, with the help and feedback of its vast community of online players. 

About FC Barcelona

For 109 years, FC Barcelona has won 21 Catalonian Championship, 1 Barcelona Cup, 1 Macaya Cup, 1 Mediterranean League, 1 Catalan League, 2 Generalitat Cup, 4 Catalan Cup, 4 Copas de los Pirineos, 2 Latin Cup, 3 Copas de Ferias, 4 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, 2 Champions' League, 2 European Supercup, 2 Copas de la Liga, 25 Copa del Rey, 19 La Liga and 7 Supercopa de España. It's the only European football club which has always appeared in Continental competitions. The Camp Nou with a capacity of 98,787 people, is the largest stadium in Europe. FC Barcelona divisions have a great national and international success: the number of fan clubs in October 2008 was 1,493; in April 2009, 335 persons were working for the football club and the number of members was 173,175 on 27 March 2009. In the middle of the year 2009, the divisions of the club have won 930 titles since the beginning of its history. There have been 42 different presidents and 50 managers for the football division only. With 160 million supporters in the world, from whom 44 million in the European continent and around 6 million in Spain, FC Barcelona is, without any doubt, the best and most important polysportive society in the world history.

About Empire of Sports

Empire of Sports is a new kind of massively multiplayer games. It combines the depth of role-play and the competitivedynamics of sports games in an innovative and very ambitious (including technically) persistent world, where players can meet in real time from all over the world and play sports together. Currently in its “Prologue” phase, Empire of Sports offers unrestricted access to its featured six sports: tennis, football, skiing, bobsleigh, basketball, and track & field. During this Prologue phase, players are encouraged to provide feedback to the development team to help fine tune the gameplay and business model.

Empire of Sports is produced and operated by the joint venture founded by the international sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media and F4. F4 is developing the platform leveraging the expertise of its team in online gaming and the creation of persistent virtual worlds, while Infront Sports & Media is contributing its long-term relationships with top sports federations, clubs and athletes to the endeavour. Empire of Sports has opened its Prologue phase in Europe while Giant, the first Chinese massively multiplayer games operator, is about to starts its closed beta in China.

Business opportunities in Empire of Sports

Capitalising on the unprecedented rise in persistent gaming worlds, EoS opens up a completely new frontier for business partners. There are exciting opportunities for brands, media companies and rights holders, allowing them to use the platform as an advertising channel or sell both virtual and real items.
EoS targets the most attractive but also hard-to-impress consumer segments. With careful product placement, the playeris able to experience virtually the benefits of the product and build a positive association with the brand, eventually leading to a real life purchase.