The team behind NFL Rivals is bringing FIFA Rivals to the world in May, TV smash hit Peaky Blinders is getting a new crypto game adaptation of its classic gangster series, and other news.
by Ciaran Lyons 5 min April 29, 2025
FIFA Rivals set to launch pre-release in May
If you’ve played the FIFA soccer/football video game anytime in the past few decades, you’ll have that classic “E…A…Sports” tagline burned into your brain. But for the first time ever, a new FIFA game is dropping without it…and it’s on the blockchain.
Built on Polkadot, the new mobile game FIFA Rivals will launch its pre-release in May, before its global launch in June, just in time for the FIFA Club World Cup.
It comes from Web3 gaming studio Mythical Games — they’re the developers behind the National Football League’s (NFL) official blockchain game, NFL Rivals. Much like NFL Rivals, soccer/football fans can build their own teams, play real matches, and trade NFTs of their favorite players.
FIFA wanted a more “arcade-like” theme
Mythical Games brought in Bacon Games to help. “They wanted to distance themselves from the hyper-realistic aesthetics of Electronic Arts, with a game that would fall somewhere between simulation and fantasy, more arcade-like,” Bacon Games founder Jairo Nieto told Forbes Columbia.
“To do this, they needed a strategic partner who could help them develop the game and knew about football.”
“It’s a huge responsibility,” he said. “We’re taking it one day at a time, with the simple command that we’re making the best football game possible because if we get too caught up thinking about the scale of this project, we’d freeze when making any decisions. When it all happens, we’ll take a few days to enjoy it,” said Nieto.
Polkadot talked the game up on X recently, saying “Football…is not just a sport, it is a universal language for more than five billion fans and for the first time, FIFA gameplay is going onchain.”
Peaky Blinders gets a crypto game in 2026
Peaky Blinders, one of the world’s most popular television shows with 80 million viewers, is getting a crypto game adaptation in 2026…. but the creators are keeping things pretty tight-lipped for now.
Set to launch next year, the game will feature “interactive experiences, games, action sequences and a tokenized in-game currency,” set in the streets of post-war Birmingham, according to an April 24 statement.
There’s not a lot of other details yet— but if we had to guess, it might be along the lines of Grand Theft Auto meets Red Dead Redemption… just with a lot more flat caps and razor blades.
Why they picked a historical drama set between two World Wars to build a crypto ecosystem on top is not clear, but the show is so well known and popular it could introduce a whole new generation to Web3 gaming.According to Parrot Analytics, Peaky Blinders enjoys 260 times the average global demand for a TV series, the highest ever recorded for a European TV series.
GameSwift AI CEO Pan Paragraf said, “This is so far the largest IP joining the blockchain gaming sector, blending gritty storytelling with true ownership.”
“I believe this could be THE game to take Web3 Gaming mainstream.”
It’s not the first time a TV show has explored Web3 gaming. In 2024, television giant ITV partnered with The Sandbox to bring some of its biggest reality shows, such as The Voice, Love Island, and I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, onto blockchain-based games.
Cambria season 2 wraps, gamers already craving season 3
In an industry where overpromising and underdelivering is basically the norm, risk-to-earn game Cambria, built on Ronin and Abstract, decided to break the mold… and is leaving players wanting more.
Touted as one of the most hyped (and controversial) crypto games of 2025, Cambria — inspired by classics like Runescape and Ultima — just wrapped up its second season.
Cambria made it clear from the start: two weeks of madness where you can risk all your digital assets in the chaos, basically a crypto Hunger Games, but after those two weeks of gameplay, it’s over.
Game over… for now. Popular gaming streamer Yellow Panther said, “We can finally sleep.”
It riled up gamers and had them hooked for the entire two weeks. Gamer “Birdie” said they did their “best while working a 9-6 job.”
“Can’t wait for S3,” Birdie added, echoing a sentiment similar to many other X gamers.
“I honestly didn’t expect to feel so much from this game, but now I can’t imagine my life without it,” gamer RedOne said in an X post.
Hot Take: Nitro Nation
Mythical Games’ Web3 mobile car racing game, Nitro Nation, has beautifully crisp graphics. They’re the most impressive I’ve seen in a blockchain mobile game in a long time.
The sound is spot on, too. If you’re a car geek, it’ll be Mozart to your ears.
If you’re into drag racing, just hit download right now before reading more because, just a warning it’s over 1GB and it’s gonna take up more space on your phone than the average blockchain game.
Nitro Nation, built on the Mythos blockchain, seems to get what car racing fans are after. The hype music while you’re waiting to start has you feeling less like you’re stuck in a boring standard pre-game lobby and more amped up that you’re about to start a race.
The controls are spot-on, placed perfectly on the screen, and the quick tutorial at the start doesn’t waste your time. It’s simple, and trust me, I know, considering I failed my actual driving test five times.
What’s interesting is the game stands by itself as a solid playable car racing game, with a career mode that will have you hooked for months if these sorts of games are up your alley.
Gamers can own their cars as NFTs, that are tradable on the Mythical NFT marketplace.
Overall, this is one of the best blockchain games I’ve played in a while. The sound and graphics are on point, and you’ll be hooked the second you open the game.
The only downside? If you’re like me and have limited storage on your phone, you might have to delete a few apps and maybe some old travel photos with your ex to make room for it.
Other News
— Martial arts legend and actor Bruce Lee has officially joined The Sandbox, and now fans can buy land to become neighbors with the icon in the metaverse.
— Ubisoft taps Immutable to launch Web3 card game ‘Might & Magic: Fates,’ which blends classic strategic gameplay with modern blockchain technology, offering players digital ownership through Immutable’s Web3 infrastructure.
— Sci-fi story-based decentralized finance (DeFi) trading game Yolo.ex has launched on the Epic Games Store.
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Ciaran Lyons
Ciaran Lyons is an Australian crypto journalist. He’s also a standup comedian and has been a radio and TV presenter on Triple J, SBS and The Project.
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