SBJ Gaming: Anime catches World Cup fever

As America celebrates 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, I urge everyone to remember that one movement’s definition of “patriotism” doesn’t have to define what the American idea means to you.

Also: Play a game or two this weekend with people you cherish. It can be cards. Golf. A fighting game on your PS5. The power of play, especially with friends and family, can be rejuvenating.

Anime isn’t just about mechs, ninjas and horse girls. Sports has been a thriving niche in the Japanese animation for decades, some original works and others adaptations of manga (that’s a form of comic/graphic novel in Japan).

Crunchyroll is an anime subscription service in the U.S., eclipsing the 21-million subscriber threshold earlier this year. It carries three soccer-themed shows: “Captain Tsubasa,” which debuted back in 1983 (yet is still younger than me); “Aoashi,” which debuted in 2022; and “Blue Lock,” which also debuted in 2022 (it’s on Netflix, too). Both “Captain Tsubasa” and “Blue Lock” have video games, as does “Inazuma Eleven.”

“Blue Lock” is a bit different than the standard Japanese sports anime. While most focus on characters working together, Blue Lock features a fierce competition (think “Squid Games” but for soccer) to mold one player into the best striker to ever play so they can lead Japan’s World Cup team.

Crunchyroll is using “Blue Lock” as the hook of its World Cup strategy, with a promo spot running during 130 games in France and Germany. It’s also holding events in Paris, Munich and Times Square (where the ad is airing on one of its outdoor screens). It’s targeting France because of the culture’s long appreciation for animation, and both nations have pro players who have shared their love of anime online and populations who watch it.

“Both France and Germany have passionate and growing anime communities, so the opportunity to air Crunchyroll spots during a tentpole moment in pop culture like the World Cup allows us to introduce existing sports fans to the vibrant world of anime,” said Kartik Gandhi, Crunchyroll’s SVP/growth and planning. Other areas of growth: Latin America, especially Brazil and Mexico.

He also notes that with anime fans, older series remain popular as younger audiences discover them or older ones watch them again.

Crunchyroll is also engaging athletes. In April, it worked with Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez, an Argentine star and “anime superfan” on a selection of apparel items.

World Cup aside, anime is seeing a moment in U.S. sports. More Japanese brands are advertising in MLB thanks to the influx of stars such as Shohei Ohtani and Munetaka Murakami. And Cygames is using the Kentucky Derby and other horse racing events to promote “Umamusume: Pretty Derby,” a mobile game based on the anime of the same name (which is, of course, on Crunchyroll).

MLB: The Show 26 is performing better than, well, most of the American League at this point, finishing sixth in unit sales among games in the U.S., with Forza Horizon 6 at No. 2 for Microsoft in tracking firm Circana’s monthly report for May.

Since its March launch, Sony’s baseball sim is seeing its sales trend “slightly higher than a year ago through May,” said Circana’s Executive Director/Games Mat Piscatella. It’s also “slightly overperforming MLB: The Show 25 on a time-aligned basis” and is “on pace to set a new record high in full-game dollar sales should this trend continue.” It’s also No. 3 in overall game sales for the year.

Microsoft has seen a lot of bad news for its game division: recent layoffs and more looming in the near-future while cutting projects left and right. So a “great start” for Forza Horizon 6 must be welcome news in Redmond, Wash. Piscatella said “launch-month full-game dollar sales of Forza 6 were approximately 30% higher than the launch-month full-game dollar sales of Forza Horizon 5,” with it being particularly strong on PC.

2K Sports’ WWE 2K25 is also seeing strong sales this year, coming in at No. 9 overall for 2026 through May. Piscatella noted that “this franchise has been remarkably consistent over the past four years in particular.”

Console sales, sports games and 2026

May was another rough month for PlayStation and Xbox console sales. While Nintendo’s Switch 2 finished its first 12 months in the U.S. as the second-fastest-selling console in Circana’s tracking history at 5.9 million systems (trailing only the Game Boy Advance’s 6.5 million handheld sales in one year), PlayStation hardware sales fell to its lowest since May 2000, and Xbox sales were its lowest ever recorded for May. This comes on the heels of price increases for both consoles as AI’s hunger for memory and other components drives up the costs of consumer electronics across industries.

Considering how many sports game sales come on PlayStation and Xbox — with machines that should be at the end of their normal life cycles and no new consoles on the horizon (and even so, they would be quite expensive thanks to the hunger of AI) — I asked Piscatella if this should be a concern for companies making sports games.

“Beyond everything else they’re worrying about? I don’t know. And I’m not sure if it’s a sports game challenge in particular,” Piscatella said. “But there’s no doubt that higher prices on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series hardware have had a negative impact on hardware sales. Fortunately for those two systems, we are already deep into the console cycle, so many people who were interested in buying either have already done so.

“The bigger question is the next generation in terms of what it looks like, when it will arrive and how much it will cost. Sports games continue to perform well in the market at the moment, and in some ways, it should remain a more insulated genre than perhaps some others. We’ll have to see what happens to Switch 2 hardware sales once those price changes take effect later this year.”

• I still buy and prefer physical media: books, magazines, movies and video games. The only digital versions of games for my PlayStation 5 that I “own” are those that are either from digital-only games or codes from studios. So I’m disappointed that Sony decided it’s going to stop releasing disc versions of its games come January 2028. As you can imagine, gamers aren’t taking this well. I’m not happy, either. Yes, as a PC-first player, I’ve long dealt with digital-only sales. However, PC is an open ecosystem, where other stores can offer discounts and packages, and I don’t pay for access to online multiplayer “perks” that make up for the lack of discs.
• Esports tournament organizer Blast reported over $133 million in revenue, noting this was 40% year-over-year growth. It also said it was expanding its investments in competitive gaming, clarifying that this would all be associated to esports and esports productions, not standalone gaming content.
• Clinton Sparks’ Global Gaming League is adding a tournament platform with GGL Primes. Players can either subscribe to the platform or play for free to win prizes and level up the ladder. (The paid tier does offer more events and prizes). As you climb the ladder, you become eligible to get drafted by a GGL team.
• The idea behind Games Workshop’s Blood Bowl tabletop game is fantastic: “Warhammer, but it’s football.” Nacon has published Cyanide Studio’s Blood Bowl video games for some time, but now that it’s going insolvent, Slitherine (one of the top companies for strategy game development) is taking over publishing duties, per GamesIndustry.biz.
• FIFA Heroes, the first sanctioned soccer game from the body since its split from EA, now has 1 million downloads and counting on consoles and mobile.
• ESL FaceIt’s Dreamhack gaming-festival series signed a five-year renewal with its presenting sponsor, Elgiganten (an electronics retailer in Denmark and Sweden). In addition to naming rights on events and other activations, the deal includes a Community Hall for all types of gaming and associated activities (such as painting miniatures).
• Krafton’s recent PUBG Nations Cup 2026 in Seoul set a record for the event, drawing 13.2 million views, with peak viewership hitting 810,000 for the Grand Finals (which Brazil won).
• Football Manager’s database is now available to FMDB Pro, making its profiles of over 760,000 soccer players and more available for real-life recruiting for FMDB Pro’s 40 clubs, federations and organizations.
• 2K Sports has a couple of Fourth of July-themed items and events for its sports games. For WWE Supercard, it’s showcasing a July 4-themed Bob Backlund card that’s available now. For PGA Tour 2K25, it’s offering July 4-themed apparel (see the image above for an example) and the “Land of the Tee” quest. Both are live now.