The 20-Year Journey to Creating a True Football Manager Sequel

Unlike most annual franchises, Football Manager has been iterated upon each year, with improvements and additions keeping the game fresh while maintaining the core elements that Sports Interactive has built over the years. However, this approach is about to undergo a significant change. The upcoming Football Manager 2024, expected to release in November, will be the last of its kind, as the developer has announced plans to overhaul the game and switch to a new engine for Football Manager 2025, which studio director Miles Jacobson refers to as the "first true sequel" in the series. This change presents an opportunity for the team to re-examine every aspect of the game and determine if they would approach it differently if they were starting from scratch. The studio is working on both FM24 and FM25 simultaneously, with full resources dedicated to both titles, thanks to the significant growth of the studio. The team is adopting a new approach, focusing on creating a proper sequel that will revolutionize the series. The studio has been hinting at this reinvention for some time, with subtle changes in the branding and promotion of FM22, including the introduction of rips in the logo and taglines that foreshadowed the upcoming changes. The biggest change for FM25 is the shift to the Unity engine, which will replace the studio's proprietary technology, SIOS. Jacobson is pleased with the progress made so far, particularly with the game's visuals and the 3D match engine. The move to Unity will also enable the studio to create a more efficient and user-friendly interface, using anonymized data to inform the design. The studio has grown significantly, from around 100 employees to nearly 290, and has implemented a new management structure to accommodate this growth. This expansion has allowed the team to work on both FM24 and FM25 simultaneously, with a focus on creating a long-term vision for the series. The success of Football Manager has been remarkable, with the franchise growing from two million players per year to over five million, thanks in part to the support of Game Pass, Apple Arcade, and PlayStation. This growth has provided the studio with a better understanding of how different types of players interact with the game, allowing them to create a more balanced experience that caters to both casual and hardcore fans. With 20 years of experience feeding into the first true sequel, Jacobson is focused on setting up the studio for the next 30 years, with a long-term vision that may not require another true sequel for 20 or 30 years.