| Goals | |
| Developer: | Goals AB |
| Publisher: | Goals AB |
| Designer: | Frans Perers |
| Genre: | Sports |
| Modes: | Multiplayer |
| Engine: | Unreal Engine 5 |
Goals (stylized as GOALS) is an upcoming football video game developed & published by Goals AB. Conceptualized by Andreas Thorstensson, Goals will follow a free-to-play business model with a focus on esports viability. First announced on July 22, 2021, the game is intended to compete with the FIFA & eFootball series of video games, with a focus on responsiveness over fidelity. The game will feature cross-platform play, for Microsoft Windows, MacOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and Series S platforms.
Goals places players on football pitches at different arenas, with game modes of 1v1 & 5v5. A practice mode called "The Arena" may be accessed, allowing for testing player avatars & features.[1]
Swedish gamer & programmer Andreas Thorstensson was one of the earliest professional Counter-Strike players, with his career beginning shortly after the release of the game in 1999. As a player, executive and owner of the German & Swedish organization Schroet Kommando, which became SK Gaming, he led it to become one of the most prolific in the scene, before retiring in 2009.[2] After several web development & entrepreneurship ventures over the subsequent decade, Thorstensson teased Goals as his new venture, before formally announcing it as a football video game on August 18, 2021. Thorstensson detailed his intention to develop an esports-ready AAA cross-platform multiplayer game that would reward players.[3]
The game would be built using Unreal Engine 5.[4] An objective outlined by Thorstensson from the onset was to give audiences access to Goals during its early days, allowing for the team to gauge feedback and combat bugs before release.[5] Early access testing for Goals began with a single-player demo called the "Arena" in September 2022, with rudimentary functionality implemented. The following February, multiplayer access on a football pitch setting began.[6]
In April 2022, Goals AB was announced to have raised $15 million in seed funding, led by venture capitalist firm Northzone.[7] In April 2023, Goals received an additional $20 million in funding - led by Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian’s venture capital firm Seven Seven Six and supported by Northzone, Moonfire, Cassius and angel investors Peter Sellis, Wayne Mackey, Riqui Puig and Clément Lenglet - bringing the total funding to $39 million.[8] In July 2023, GOALS AB's board was bolstered by the arrivals of Ebba Ljungerud and Oskar Gabrielson, the former chief executive officers of Paradox Interactive & and DICE, respectively.[9]