Power Slap, the so-called “slap fighting” tournament founded by the UFC’s Dana White will receive a mobile game adaptation by Zynga subsidiary Rollic.
Power Slap, which involves two competitors striking each other with open-palm blows to the face - and has been connected to numerous health concerns including concussions and brain damage - is certainly more suited for mobile than it is for the real world. The game comes courtesy of Rollic, an Istanbul-based studio recently purchased by Zynga who have an existing wealth of experience in a variety of genres. Now they’re set to tackle “sports” with Power Slap, named after the titular sport.
CEO of Rollic Burak Vardal commented, “Rollic has firmly established itself as a pioneer in seamlessly integrating popular social and digital trends into gaming, and we are thrilled to collaborate with Dana White and Power Slap to bring this social media phenomenon to our global player base. Our talented teams are excited to work with this calibre of IP and have created an immersive user experience that puts the spirit of the live events into our players’ hands with the collaboration of Zynga’s best-in-class IP base game launch expertise.”
Virtual brain damage, rather than real
Rollic certainly has good reason to be confident in the success of the game on their end as, so far, the company boasts over two billion downloads across its entire portfolio. It’s also had at least 21 titles reach either the number one or two spot on the U.S. iOS store, and publishes in over 175 countries. With Zynga’s ownership helping them go from strength-to-strength, many will be keeping an eye on Power Slap to see if Rollic can spin this…unusual sport into a successful mobile title. The developer more than has the experience, and success, to take even a bizarre idea such as this and make it work.
They’ll certainly have their work cut out for them, as while Power Slap has proved to be a viral sensation, that hasn’t translated well to traditional media. A show for the tournament on American channel TBS was recently cancelled, and founder Dana White has mostly boasted about the brand’s success on sites such as TikTok with viral videos of the “bouts”. While TikTok can definitely boost many brands, most notably for us with Outfit7 and their title Talking Tom, or Sybo and Subway Surfers, a mobile game may be the preferred way for Dana White to push Power Slap into the minds (or palms) of the broader public.
