Göran Syberg Falguera has announced that he will be joining GOALS, an ‘esports-ready’ free-to-play football game, as a Co-founder and Chief Technical Officer (CTO).
Falguera announced the move via LinkedIn, with the DICE Senior Software Engineer officially joining the company in November.
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Video game developer DICE is widely known for being behind the Battlefield franchise. Its other titles include Mirror’s Edge and Star Wars Battlefront. Since 2006, the company has been a subsidiary of Electronic Arts (EA).
GOALS was first announced in August and is founded by SK Gaming’s Co-founder Andreas Thorstensson. The title is said to be an esports and multiplayer tailored football game which will utilise a ‘play-to-earn model’. Players will be rewarded with NFTs from time spent and individual skill.
According to a Twitter thread by Thorstensson GOALS is backed by VCs and angel investors.
Regarding his decision to join GOALS, Falguera stated in a Linkedin post: “At first, I don’t think I got it, but as I listened to them it started to make more and more sense.
“The more I talked to these people, I realised comparing their vision to FIFA was like comparing Microsoft Flight Simulator to dog fights in Battlefield. Sure, it’s flying but it is not really competing games. A stylized football game with competitive gaming and fun in the first room is something very different compared to a football simulator.”
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Recently, Falguera has been working on Battlefield 2042 as the game’s Generalist programmer and another yet-to-be-announced project. After leaving DICE in August 2020 following an eight-year tenure, Falguera joined Zenseact as a Software Engineer. However, following a 9-month spell, he returned to DICE to work on Battlefield’s latest title.
Esports Insider says: GOALS is looking to be a serious competitor to FIFA and eFootball, specifically when it comes to esports. Having spent more than 8 years at DICE, Falguera is an experienced figure who should help enhance the game to ensure that its performance matches that of other esports-specific titles. An exciting appointment at an exciting new game in its early stages!