Copa City is an ambitious tycoon game for soccer fans, and here’s our first look at how it works

Dubbed the first “football tycoon game,” in Copa City you manage the business side of the sport.

Copa City / Triple Espresso

Triple Espresso has shared an exclusive Copa City gameplay trailer with GLHF, titled Balance. The trailer highlights what we can expect when the game releases next year. Copa City is dubbed the first “football tycoon game,” where players are tasked with managing the business side of the sport. You’ll be in charge of setting up the events, with implications ranging from public order to monetization.

As for licensing, you’re not going to manage a specific soccer club, which would highlight the lack of major clubs and leagues. The licensed clubs announced as of now are Bayern Munich, Arsenal, and Flamengo, with two cities, Warsaw (the PGE Narodowy Stadium), and Berlin (the Olympiastadion). Triple Espresso is now announcing that not only will a third city be coming at launch, but there will also be three more clubs to be revealed soon. 

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These cities are reproduced in rich detail, in spite of the top-down view. In Berlin, for example, you can float above the Brandenburg Gate, and there are several well-known landmarks adding detail to the surroundings.

Copa City / Triple Espresso

You’ll be organizing events under a time limit. That time limit means you need to decide not only which facilities to build, but also when to get them up and running, and figure out when to start promoting the event to attract fans. To compensate for the budget spending, you can determine the number of tickets available, how much to sell them for, from when, and until when. 

You can hire workers to be deployed in the various areas, from the stadium to the fan zones, and even call on volunteers as you unlock a dedicated item in the technology tree. Three branches are planned, but as of now the devs have only showcased the buildings and facilities branch.

One of your most important tasks is getting the fans safely to the venue, and allowing them to flow out of the stadium properly. Caravans of fans and more sparse groups will show up in the days around the event, and it’s up to you to select the routes they’ll follow both on foot and by vehicles. It’s also key that they don’t clash with opposing fans.

Copa City / Triple Espresso

Crowd control has some relevance for everything to run smoothly. Hordes of fans will flood the city in the days immediately preceding the event, and it’s up to us to make sure that everything goes smoothly. Your tasks include establishing safe routes for fans and citizens, closing off access to monuments, and more. 

How much you invest in the security of neighborhoods affected by the passage of fans affects people’s perception, of course. Residents will complain if they feel unsafe, and that’s why you need to establish police hotspots to increase control. You can also open restaurant doors following visual cues from fans, who’ll have silverware over their heads if they’re hungry.

You also need to manage the budget allocated to the event. In addition to having our own idea about what to do in the city, you’ll follow indicators coming from fans and residents on the street, who may wonder where the fan zones are if we have set up too few, voice complaints about security if they don’t see officers around, or wonder how to get a ticket refund. 

Copa City / Triple Espresso

As you unlock levels, you’ll get more budgets and choose special rewards, including Hype, Food, and Building Materials. At level 5, they all come with 20,000 units of additional money to be reinvested in curating the event. 

Sooner or later comes match day. At the stadium, you’ll spread more ticket outlets and kiosks outside, or increase the catering staff. And, even in a monument such as the Olympiastadion, you’ll be able to place new team benches, billboards, turf care stations to mow the pitch, and adjust parameters such as irrigation, light exposure, and grass pattern.

In the locker rooms, you’ll install new benches and lockers, as well as opponents’ analysis equipment, club branding like flags for a nicer look, and stands for team refreshments.

Copa City / Triple Espresso

This first look revealed a game with a peculiar ambition - one that could carve out its own space in the niche crossing management and soccer fans. We’ll find out if it comes with the depth to appeal to both in 2025, when Copa City launches for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.