When Sloclap revealed Rematch, the studio’s pivot from martial arts to football felt like a genuine curveball. Known for Absolver and Sifu, Slowclap wasn’t exactly the first name that came to mind for a competitive team-based sports game. Still, the gamble paid off quickly. Rematch reached five million players in its first month, firmly establishing itself as one of 2025’s breakout hits.
Behind the scenes, however, the studio says the first year has been anything but simple.
Speaking to GamesRadar, Sloclap CEO Pierre Tarno described Rematch as “a very strong learning curve,” particularly because it marked the studio’s first attempt at running a live-service, team-based multiplayer game. While Absolver featured PvP elements, Tarno noted that nothing in Sloclap’s past catalog prepared them for the ongoing complexity of maintaining a competitive football experience where every interaction matters.
That complexity quickly showed up in development and post-launch support. According to Tarno, even small adjustments to Rematch‘s physics or movement systems could cause unintended ripple effects. In a game where positioning, timing, and momentum are critical, those side effects were often felt immediately by players and called out just as quickly.
“I think players are very precise and very demanding,” Tarno said, acknowledging that community feedback has sometimes been intense. Competitive players, in particular, have been quick to highlight issues, whether it’s a tweak to movement or something as granular as volley height impacting high-level play.
One of the biggest miscalculations came with crossplay. While multi-platform matchmaking was always part of Rematch‘s roadmap, Sloclap ultimately launched without it, underestimating how much players now view crossplay as a baseline expectation. It took more than two months for the feature to arrive, a delay Tarno admitted felt like “an eternity for gamers” and drew sharp criticism.
Interestingly, Sloclap never envisioned Rematch as a long-term, forever game. The original post-launch plan covered roughly 12 to 18 months, and that roadmap has already changed significantly. As the meta has evolved and player skill levels have risen across the board, the studio has reprioritized features and updates to focus on what Rematch needs now, rather than what was planned on paper.
On December 17, Season 2 of Rematch will go live. And hopes are that it will be a success. However, recent happenings have been cause for concern. Despite racking up over 90,000 concurrent players upon launch, Rematch‘s player count has since dropped dramatically. And despite receiving a Best Sports/Racing Game nomination at this year’s Game Awards, the devs have needed to address several fan concerns head-on.
Overall, we here at Operation Sports think Rematch is a very good game with unlimited potential, and we’re rooting for the team at Sloclap to further flesh out the title and make it everything it can be.
