Empire of Sports

Friday 10th July/... Empire of Sports, the first virtual world entirely dedicated to sport, has announced its partnership with legendary Welsh footballer, Ian Rush. His involvement will coincide with a raft of in-game improvements and new features, foremost among them a brand new city for Empire of Sports - in the UK.

The new UK location will allow English-speaking players to meet and plot their achievements within Empire of Sports. While former Liverpool and Juventus striker, Rush, will be featured in-game as an NPC (non-playable character), where he will be on standby to issue all players with special missions and reward them with new tricks.

Alexis Galley, CEO of Empire of Sports, said: “We are delighted to announce the UK as a city within Empire of Sports. It has been our wish to incorporate this city as quickly as possible to make it more enjoyable for British players to play the game in their own language. We know that many people have been eagerly awaiting this version of the game and we hope they enjoy it.”

To celebrate the launch of the UK city, the first official video competition titled 'Good Morning UK' is being held for the Empire of Sports community. Players are invited to create a character in the new city, visit it and be as creative and imaginative as possible, while showing off and highlighting some of its best features! More information on the competition can be found at https://www.empireofsports.com/community/en/events/special-events/good-morning-uk/index.html

If you are keen to check out the new UK city for yourself, all you need to do is download the game client from www.empireofsports.com (900 Mo), register and start playing for free!

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.

Ends.

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 open its Prologue phase in Europe while Giant, the first Chinese massively multiplayer games operator, has launched 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.