From Press Release:
14th July 2026 – Indie studio The Koala Republic has released an all-new trailer for Dronaldo: Drone Football League, an indie vehicular sports game that blends fast-paced football with third-person arena shooter combat. Players take control of customizable combat drones competing in the DFL, a televised sports league where scoring goals and destroying opponents are equally valid game plans.
Matches blend the structure of football with the action of a third-person shooter, and every match plays out differently depending on the team compositions, tactics, and use of abilities. This extends to winning a match. In the event of a draw, the win is determined by the team with the highest kill count. If you want to keep the match 0-0 till the buzzer and focus on killing your enemies, that’s a completely viable decision!
Whether you’re settling a friendly grudge match with a mate, queueing into a ranked game against a stranger, or working through the campaign solo, how you get your wins is entirely up to you.
Every match is shaped by who you bring to it. Dronaldo’s five drone classes, Hunter (all-rounder), Knight (tank), Ranger (long-range), Rogue (burst damage) and Artificer (support), each come in Heavy, Medium and Light builds, giving players fifteen distinct combinations to build a team around. Lean into Heavy for pure combat, Light for a more traditional sporting approach, or Medium for something in between. Stack three of the same class for an extreme playstyle, or mix and match to cover every angle.
The new trailer is presented in-universe as an official DFL Pilot Introduction Video, a VHS-tinged broadcast tape that looks like it’s straight from a team’s onboarding process. It walks through a fresh pilot’s first steps in the DFL: gearing up in the workshop, taking to the pitch against a rival, and fielding a post-match interview.
Dronaldo features a solo campaign that takes a couple of hours to complete and doubles as a hands-on introduction to the game’s systems, using deathmatch and 1v1 encounters to walk players through individual drone and arena mechanics before opening up into the deeper loop of leveling, customization and multiplayer.
The Koala Republic founder Kel brings experience from a string of major studios, including Epic Games, EA and Scopely, to his debut project as an independent developer.
Discussing the idea behind Dronaldo, Kel said: “I wanted Dronaldo to feel like a game you could really sink into, but also something that people can understand when it’s on in the background. You know when football’s on and people who aren’t even watching suddenly start paying attention because something kicked off? That’s the feeling I was going for, and I’m excited to start sharing more of the game with people!”
Dronaldo: Drone Football League is coming to PC via Steam with an expected release date announcement later this year.
