Axis Football could be getting into the licensed game market, and it could be with the United States Football League (USFL). When speaking to Sports Gamers Online’s Mike Straw for the latest edition of the SGO Developer Spotlight coming on August 8, Axis Football 2023 lead developer Danny Jugan said that he has spoken with the upstart league about licensing the league in the game.
Yes, we right now and I won’t share too much, but we are in talks with the USFL. They have been fantastic. We’ve had a handful of meetings with them. Our goal is to be able to bring in an officially licensed league and still maintain the quality and heart of what Axis Football is. And so we wouldn’t bring in a league if it meant that we had to do away with what makes Axis Football, Axis Football. The good parts of it.
And there has been no indication from any of the people we’ve talked to that they want to wholesale change what the game is. All of our talks have been super positive and we’re very excited about the the possibility of working with them.
Jugan also clarified that he wants to reassure the game’s community that nothing will happen with the game if it means changing the integrity of what has been build.
“That comment was more just for reassurance to the community who love Axis Football for what it is that we aren’t going to sacrifice what has gotten us to where we are, simply to throw an official licensed league on top of the game,” he said.
The USFL just finished its inaugural season on July 3, and has already announced plans for its return for a second season with teams playing in multiple cities for the first time.
This also isn’t the first time that Axis Football has spoken about league licensing. Before the league went under midway through its first season in 2019, Jugan had talks with the Alliance of American Football. Though that deal fell through, there’s hope that the opportunity is now for the Axis Football series to get its first major league license with the USFL.
Axis Football 2023 launches this fall for PC with planned launches for console shortly after. This year’s game features overhauled gameplay elements including passing, tackling, receiving, and defensive back play.
Tune in Monday, August 8 at Noon EST for the latest edition of the SGO Developer Spotlight where Jugan talks about features in Axis Football 2023, an update to the game’s pricing, what goes into developing the game, and much more. Exclusively on SportsGamersOnline.com and YouTube.com/SportsGamersOnline.