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| Photo: Instagram/iamzlatanibrahimovic |
Former Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimović has used his time away from football to launch a new mobile game.
Titled "Zlatan Legends", the game has been two years in the making and was developed by Swedish game studio Isbit Games, which Ibrahimović co-owns.
It features a new sport called Driftball that requires skill and determination as gamers compete against opponents in an intergalactic tournament in a quest to become champion of the universe.
Ibrahimović, who is battling back from a serious knee injury, told GamesIndustry.biz that video games have been his passion since he was a child.
Since I was a kid, I always loved video games. Throughout my career, I had a lot of (downtime) and video games became my saviour.
It's something I love, I want to be involved and I want to make a difference in the video game world because it's part of my life.
The 35-year-old has been involved in various aspects of the game's development, from design and concept to voice acting.
I'm involved, I talk a lot with the team. We talk a lot because I think the game is about catching as much as possible from my personality, from my image and maybe the world I'm living in. I feel like a superhero, so I'm bringing that across in a game and saving the world.
The kids, when they play it, they need to feel like they're me. They need to feel like they're a superhero, saving the planets. That's the opportunity we will give them - and I will challenge all of them and I'll be better than all of them, even though they're playing me when they're against me.
Unsurprisingly, the game is free-to-play which presents the often-treacherous issue of monetising with a young audience.
I'm not doing this for the money. I do this because it's my passion, I've spent 20 years playing games and now I have the opportunity to create my own.
It's a new challenge for me, because I've come into a world that's brand new for me in terms of the way that I'm involved. When you're in a new world, you take it as a challenge and then you take over. Because with everything I go into, I want to be the biggest and the best.
The game is now available to download on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices for free: http://bit.ly/zlatanlegends
