In a brave and unprecedented movement, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is investigating the development of its official mobile cricket game. The proposal was hoped to be presented to the Chief Administrators Committee (CEC) by the ICC’s Digital Media team during the next board meetings.
This takes reins for the first time a sport to start its own special game of a sport – a step to capture a slice of the exploding game market and to rely on traditional income sources such as broadcasting rights that may face a decline in the near future.
A strategic change towards game income
Cricket Video Games are far from being new – EA Sports Cricket with Codemasters’ Brian Lara CricketFans have been immersed in digital cricket experiences for decades. However, these titles were developed by third -party publishers and often blocked by licensing difficulties.
The ICC’s initiative aims to replace it by installing a completely licensed, immersive cricket game supported by the management body of the sport. The aim is to create a consistent flow of income in accordance with a long -term digital asset and the wider digital strategy of the ICC.
This follows FIFA’s three -year successful partnership with EA Sports, which recently ended in 2023. Fifa The football game was a global source of visibility for both revenue and sports. FIFA now wants to start its own game independently ICC, seems to adopt a similar model from the beginning.
The biggest challenge: licensing
Although the idea of a game developed by ICC is exciting, the most important obstacle is to secure the image and similarity rights of the players. This problem was an important reason behind his stopping EA Sports Cricket In 2007, most players are based on real players in fictional or loosely – especially from India and Pakistan.
Currently, ICC has media rights to players and teams only during official ICC tournaments. Rights for binary series, domestic cricket and franchise leagues fall under individual national committees and private organizations. Comprehensive, for the whole year, ICC will have to negotiate license agreements with national cricket panels, franchise leagues and players associations all year long-a car.
A Mobile Game Market exploding
The timing of this movement could not be better. The mobile game market explodes – especially in South Asia. India and Pakistan are at the center of this fluctuation, and India’s mobile gaming industry is expected to be only about $ 3 billion in 2024. Affordable smartphones, widespread internet access and a large young population direct this growth.
A well -prepared, official ICC game can ride this wave and offer fans a high quality cricket experience while earning significant income. If it is successful, it can reshape how the jricin interacts with the digital audience – especially with the younger demographic.
What’s next?
Although the concept has been discussed at the previous board meetings, the upcoming CEC meeting will be very important. Before ICC begins to develop seriously, a green light is needed from full members. The digital team is expected to summarize the potential roadmap, market strategy and technical partnerships required for the production of the game.
If approved, this project can mark the beginning of a new era for the cricket in the digital world – not only the fans do not watch, but also play Officially sanctioned, globally recognized in a format of their favorite sport.
