Member Article

Manchester United extend partnership with Japanese gaming company

Manchester United have confirmed that they have extended their partnership with the Japanese social gaming brand, gloops.

The market-leading company has recorded nearly 1.4 million downloads of its Manchester United titled game ‘European Club Team Soccer Best Eleven Plus’ since the partnership started just over a year ago.

The football-themed game allows users to assume the role of team manager, recruiting and creating the best squad possible and battling against other gamers to win the league.

Since the company’s foundation nine years ago, gloops has produced more than 40 different games and now has over 30 million users.

Manchester United claims almost four million followers in Japan, and retaining the association with gloops follows on from the addition of several partnerships with some of the country’s most successful brands.

United’s group managing director, Richard Arnold said: “We are delighted that gloops have decided to extend their relationship with us for another year, and demonstrates that having a partnership with Manchester United yields impressive returns.

“gloops have produced an extremely popular product, with almost half of our four million followers in Japan downloading its Manchester United branded game, which is impressive given the short period in which it has been available.

“They are at the forefront of the development of social gaming in Japan and we believe they can continue to help the club deepen our engagement with our fans there.”

gloops, Inc. CEO, Hideyuki Ikeda said: “As the official social gaming partner of Manchester United, we are honoured to support the club’s activities in Japan.

Through our social game ‘European Club Team Soccer Best Eleven Plus’, we at gloops hope to increase the number of football and Manchester United fans, as well as providing entertainment to more people with our various games.

“Alongside a world-class football club like Manchester United, gloops wants to continue giving full support to people who play active roles in the global scene.”

As part of the ongoing agreement, gloops have worked with both the Manchester United Soccer Schools programme and the Manchester United Foundation over the course of the last 12 months.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .