Empire of Sports

Tuesday 26th May/... Empire of Sports, the first massively connected multisport 3D game, is delighted to announce its partnership with one of the most legendary and prestigious football clubs in the world: FC Barcelona.

The partnership between Empire of Sports and FC Barcelona provides FC Barcelona with an opportunity to reach out to its supporters through the newly designed FC Barcelona virtual club house. Here, in-game fans and supporters of this world famous football club can freely meet online in a virtual 3D environment and chat about football, as well as find out more about the club and its players. 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 13th, 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!

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.

If you are keen to explore the FC Barcelona virtual club house in Empire of Sports and fancy a chance to win a signed Messi shirt, all you need to do is download the game client from www.empireofsports.com, register and look for Sergi in the grand-place in front of the welcome area.

More information on the “Barça Opening Contest”, can be found at: https://www.empireofsports.com/community/en/evenements/special-events/barca-opening-contest/index.html?logintype=login

For more news on the FC Barcelona news announcement, please visit: http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/club/temporada08-09/05/n090526105236.html

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About FC Barcelona - FC BARCELONA TODAY

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 competitive dynamics 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. Premium accounts are already available for players willing to get extra services in Empire of Sports, like boosts for their avatars’ performances, access to special events, extra avatar slots… The Premium accounts are available from as low as €2,22 per month through the account management section on www.empireofsports.com.

Empire of Sports is produced and operated by the joint venture founded by 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.

About F4

Founded in 2002 by a pair of mathematicians, keen on gaming, mangas and philosophy, F4 is an independent company based on the Champs Elysées, Paris. Specializing in the conception, development and the operation of virtual worlds, F4 is strongly connected to 3D computer games. In contrast to other games, persistent worlds are hugely advantageous as they permit ongoing real-time dialogue within the players’ community. F4 is committed to take this a step further and continuously evolve the functionalities, gameplay and business model of its games. F4 are continuously looking to maintain and exceed player expectations. Empire of Sports relies on F4’s high technical standards to achieve results other than that seen in many typical MMO genres, and a unique graphical identity, both rich and endearing.

For further information, please contact:

BHPR

Sarah Hartland / Anna Larke

Sarah.hartland@bhpr.co.uk / anna.larke@bhpr.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1462 456780

BHPR Troopers Yard, Bancroft, Hitchin, Herts SG5 1JW

Fax: +44 (0)1462 456781

FC Barcelona

Chemi Terés

International Communications

Press and Communications Department

chemi.teres@fcbarcelona.cat