Soccer is one of the world’s most popular sports, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that a mobile title based on the game has established a large, dedicated fan base.
Today, developer Nordeus is celebrating the three-year anniversary of its soccer-management title, Top Eleven. It puts players in control of a major soccer club on Facebook, Android, and iOS. As the manager, players will make all the decisions that lead to a winning team.
“I think the ability for the users to take the game wherever they are — on smartphones or on Facebook and have continuous gameplay — that is driving a lot of our success,” Nordeus head of strategic partnerships Assaf Vaknin told GamesBeat. “We know how to use Facebook and the social graph — I don’t want to say we’re aggressive — but we know how to put [Top Eleven] out there in a visible way for users to connect with their friends.”
That strategy is paying off. Top Eleven has over 40 million registered users. It’s retained over a quarter of those for 11 million monthly active users. More than that, Vaknin pointed out that the title is one of the top-five highest-grossing apps in over 53 countries on both iOS and Android.
Vaknin believes Top Eleven’s focus on authenticity is helping it stick with players.
“We try our best to keep it as real as possible,” said Vaknin. “We work hard to come up with crazy cool features that will get the players engaged and that has shown in terms of our overall numbers — in terms of retention, and a 40 percent DAU-to-MAU ratio.”
Nordeus also landed a huge celebrity endorsement deal in March when it tapped Real Madrid head coach José Mourinho to act as the face of Top Eleven. Additionally, the studio worked with Real Mardrid, Liverpool, Arsenal, AC Milan, and more to bring in authentically licensed items for players to purchase and customize their teams.
Top Eleven is available for free on Android, iOS, and Facebook.