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Exclusive: Football Manager 2005 Feature
Derek dela Fuente
03/03/2004
Sports Interactive speaks exclusively to TVG about everything Football Manager...
Check out the other side of the story here...
Always eager to get the low-down on what is happening with the recent news of Sports Interactive parting from Eidos, after building one of footballâs biggest brand management titles, to pursue their vision with Sega with Football Manager 2005, we spoke with Miles Jacobson, MD Sports Interactive, to find out what delights will be on offer and ascertain if there were any acrimonious feelings between Sports Interactive/Collyer brothers and Eidos.
TVG: The announcement that Sports Interactive has joined forces with SEGA certainly seems to mark a bold new venture, but firstly perhaps we can take a look back at the past. The relationship between Sports Interactive and Eidos always seemed to be like a match made in heaven, resulting in a string of good selling titles - what happened, did the two parties not share the same vision of the future?
'Musical differences' is how we described it at the time, and that's how it happened. We're delighted to be signed with Sega, and entering a new phase for SI.
TVG: Naturally, the fanatics will know all about Sports Interactive and Football Manager, but do you think that losing the Championship Manager name will impede sales in any way?
I think it's going to take us time to educate people about the game, but we've got a lot of confidence in Sega's abilities in this area, as well as having a fantastic community to help us spread the word. When the announcements went live today, our website was getting 600 requests per second, which shows that people are at least interested in what we are up to.
TVG: What can we expect from the game - any major innovations or enhancements from Championship Manager 4?
There are loads of new features going in, and a completely new look to the game. These include things like agents sending match clips to you of their players and new pre- and post-match information screens.
TVG: Will 'Football Manager 2005' still contain the 2D match engine?
It will contain a 2D match engine, yes.
TVG: Do you worry about what Eidos will come up with in Championship Manager 5?
We're more concerned about ensuring that Football Manager 2005 is the best game we've ever made. We've always had competition in the management area, and now there is just one more.
TVG: How many of the Champ Manager team will be working on Football Manager?
There have been no staff changes at Sports Interactive, apart from a couple of new faces. Only two people have left the team in the 11 years that we've been releasing games.
TVG: The recent press announcement makes note of expanding other sports to different territories; perhaps we'll see Sports Interactive crack America with NFL Manager in the future?
Well, we're going to try that with Eastside Hockey Manager first. You never know what the future may bring.
TVG: Do you believe Football Manager will become as big as the Championship Manager franchise?
I don't think we'd be making these changes if we didn't believe that it can be bigger than anything that we've worked on previously.
TVG: What future innovations do you see Football Manager bringing to the genre?
Without wanting to sound too arrogant, we think that every time we release a game we're bringing innovations. We have released a new feature list today (which can be found at www.sigames.com) and hope to release another list with more new features closer to the release date.
TVG: Will the core CM community still provide valuable assistance in the development of Football Manager 2005?
Very much so - most of the ideas that we are implementing have come from our message board forums. And with our logo competition, where the winner will take away £10,000, we are not only encouraging them and others to enter, but it will be down to the community to decide on the eventual winner.
TVG: Do you feel it is up to Eidos to shift the direction of their brand as opposed to Sega? Isn't it a worry that both will have a similar feel and everything could revolve around the marketing of the game?
To be honest, what Eidos do is up to them. We're just concentrating on making the best game we possibly can, and working on marketing it in the way that ourselves and Sega believe it should be done.
TVG: What will be the most obvious change or move in a different direction
within Football Manager 2005?
The new interface will be the main thing, along with a healthy selection of new features. We're trying to expand on what we already know is a winning formula, and are confident that we have the expertise to do that.
It would be hard to see how you can improve on Championship Manager but who better than the very creators of the game. The prospect of Sports Interactive along with Sega wanting to produce the definitive football management game is a mouth-watering proposition. From the limited amount of material we have seen, we can look forward to some new ideas along with plenty of features that have worked well in the past. We are informed that there will be even more parameters and fields of data so the player can ascertain all the facts and the clean look of the game gives it a mesmeric and intuitive feel
Check out the other side of the story here...
