President Vladimir Putin has promised to support the project
Russian oil and gas giant Gazprom is developing an alternative to EA Sports’ FIFA football game, a senior sports official has said. The idea was initially pitched by retired football star Andrey Arshavin to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the opening ceremony of the Games of the Future tournament in the city of Kazan, central Russia.
In an interview with TASS released on Saturday, Nikita Nagorny, the head of the All-Russian Federation of Phygital Sports, which encompasses games where athletes compete in both cyber and real domains, voiced hopes that the Russian version of the legendary sports simulator would see the light of day within a few years.
“However, I know that it takes more than one year, dozens of years, to develop a game,” Nagorny said. “In any case, the work is underway, so sooner or later we’ll see this game.”
The idea was initially proposed to Putin by Arshavin, who noted that Aleksey Miller, the CEO of Gazprom, could help with the development. Gazprom is the general sponsor of Russia’s Zenit football club where Arshavin used to play.
In response, Putin promised to support the idea and to discuss the subject with Miller.
Earlier this week, the Russian eSports Federation and the Ministry of Sports also rallied behind the project. Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin noted that the national football school has many athletes who could bring their creative input to the digital sphere to attract more people to the sport.
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