Epic Games’ Fortnite will sponsor Santos FC’s upcoming CONMEBOL Libertadores game as the soccer club continues to strike new partnerships with video games.
Fortnite to Back up Santos FC in Upcoming Game
Brazil’s Santos FC has found an unlikely sponsor in Fortnite, Epic Games’ award-winning and massively-played battle royale game. The game franchise will sponsor the soccer team for the upcoming CONMEBOL Libertadores championship game due to take place on January 30 at Maracana stadium.
Santos FC is not turning a blind eye to video game developers after the team previously struck a similar partnership with Konami Digital Entertainment.
Commenting on the agreement, Epic Games head of global partnerships Nate Nanzer argued that the company has received many requests to include more soccer-like elements in Fortnite.
“We are excited to be partnering with Santos FC to bring the jogo bonito to Fortnite fans around the world,” Nanzer added. Epic Games, though, will not just stop at tying up a partnership for the sake of grabbing headlines.
Rather, the company will make sure that Santos FC is well-represented on social media as part of Epic’s own tailored campaign.
Santos FC president Andrés Rueda has argued that the partnership is important as it allows the clubs to get closer to younger generations across the world, aided by a globally-recognized brand.
Growing Overlap between Soccer and Esports
Santos FC marketing executive Marcelo Frazão added that the relationship between soccer and football is becoming narrower and that there is overlap between the two activities.
“Clubs that participate in modalities with competitive teams, licenses of clubs’ brands within games and shirt sponsorships that use football as a platform for global brands and important games,” concluded Frazão.
The partnership with Fortnite isn’t surprising after last week, Santos FC participates in a global activation campaign by Epic to bring soccer to the game, alongside prominent teams, such as Manchester City, AC Milan, Juventus and others.
Soccer and esports have been overlapping over the past years, as more teams are launching teams not just in sports simulators such as FIFA or the NBA2K but also fully-fledged competitive video games as Dota 2, League of Legends, Valorant, and others.