You may need seen some current buzz round Sega Soccer Membership Champions 2026. This free-to-play soccer administration sim for PlayStation, PC and iOS/Android debuted Jan. 22, and in a bit of greater than a month, the writer mentioned it had garnered over 2 million downloads.
Whereas Sega Soccer Membership Champions could also be a brand new collection within the West, it’s well-known in Japan and different areas of Asia … as Professional Soccer Membership o Tsukurō, a collection of soccer video games that debuted 30 years in the past. The newest installment options groups from Japan and East Asia, providing gamers and leagues you don’t discover in Soccer Supervisor. And it’s free, whereas Soccer Supervisor is $60 on Steam. Its strongest areas for downloads, playtime and spending are Japan and Hong Kong.
Why did Sega resolve to deliver it west, particularly when it publishes one other soccer-management sim, Soccer Supervisor? As Producer Katsuya Hisai mentioned by way of a translator over a video name, “With Professional Soccer, we don’t have that a lot consciousness in international areas.”
It’s to boost that consciousness of the collection, together with celebrating a milestone within the collection and to capitalize on the World Cup, which soccer golf equipment and leagues (international and home) try to do as nicely. (Although Hisai did say Sega tried to launch Soccer Membership Champions right here within the West final yr however was unable to take action).
“On Feb. 23, we shall be celebrating our thirtieth anniversary of the Professional Soccer collection in Japan,” Hisai mentioned forward of the Monday’s milestone.
Nevertheless it’s additionally to faucet into the worldwide gaming market, which hit $82 billion alone for cell in 2025 per Sensor Tower, with downloads declining 62 million for sports activities video games year-over-year in Asia.
“In Japan or within the Asia areas for these kind of titles, and particularly free-to-play titles, the market is shrinking a bit, and with the collection being out for 30 years, it’s presently tough for us to get new customers into the sport. That’s one of many the explanation why we wished to place this recreation out into the worldwide market and we wished to scale up the sport,” Hisai mentioned.
Sega’s on the lookout for one other play right here as nicely — including licenses for different leagues, particularly in girls’s soccer. Take into account the USA, the place the NWSL is the largest girls’s soccer league on the planet.
“We’re not negotiating at this level, however we do perceive that this can be a pattern and in sure international locations, the ladies’s league is admittedly common,” Hisai mentioned. “Once we take into consideration the [Nadeshiko League], we really feel that there’s not a lot enterprise potential to it at this second, however we do perceive the pattern getting in abroad, and we undoubtedly wish to take into consideration placing these leagues into our recreation within the close to future.”
Hisai additionally mentioned the dev staff is eager to place new modes in for the World Cup, corresponding to a nationwide mode the place of us can “practice their very own gamers, after which that participant will be capable to compete within the nationwide mode, the place you play in opposition to totally different nations.”
In fact, this takes improvement time and extra negotiations with leagues for licenses. However with early momentum behind it — together with a protracted historical past of satisfying gamers in Japan — we’ll see if Sega has an urge for food to make such investments in Professional Soccer Membership’s future.
