The online 5-a-side football game Rematch, created by Sifu developers Sloclap, is welcoming some superstar additions ahead of its official release.
Legendary Brazil and Barcelona trickster Ronaldinho, England and Manchester United starlet Kobbie Mainoo, and Germany and Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen have all been confirmed as playable characters in Rematch.
The news comes after a behind-the-scenes video released by the development team showed Ronaldinho visiting Slocap’s studios in Paris to learn about Rematch’s development and react to his in-game likeness.
Ronaldinho feels like a perfect fit for the game, which focuses on controlling a single player from a third-person perspective, with plenty of ways for players to dribble and show off their creativity.
Sloclap confirmed that Ronaldinho’s unique flair was a big inspiration for Rematch and the Brazilian will act as an ambassador for the game.
This news comes as the final open beta for Rematch started today (March 28th) on both PC and consoles.
The last Rematch beta recorded over 1.3 million sign-ups on PC last month and recorded over 2.8 million matches with a peak of 133,000 concurrent players on Steam.
With PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S players now involved, Rematch’s current open beta has attracted 2.5 million sign-ups so far.
The beta will feature custom matches to play with friends, Quick Play 3v3, 4v4, 5v5 modes, and 5v5 ranked. The three pro footballers will not be playable in the beta but will be available at launch.
It won’t be long until players can try Ronaldinho, Mainoo and Ter Stegen either as Rematch launches in two week’s time on Thursday, June 19.
And Sloclap have teased that more real-world football stars will be added as playable characters to the game later post-launch.
Not a lot is known about how these pro players will work in the game or if they will be usable online.
It appears that they will be purchasable skins available in the in-game shop, but again, no prices or further details have been revealed.
However, it has been confirmed that the £21 game will feature a battle pass with both free and paid versions.
These passes will only feature cosmetic items, nothing pay-to-win, and completing a paid battle pass will earn players enough in-game currency to then purchase the next season’s pass without having to add more money to the game. Not it’s not clear how much time it will take to achieve this.
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