The 20-Year Journey to Revolutionizing Football Manager

Unlike most annual franchises, Football Manager is on the cusp of a major overhaul, moving away from its traditional iterative approach. The upcoming Football Manager 2024, slated for release in November, will mark the final iteration of its kind. In a significant shift, the developer has announced plans to revamp the entire game and switch to a new engine for Football Manager 2025, which studio director Miles Jacobson describes as the 'first true sequel' in the series. According to Jacobson, 'This presents a genuine opportunity for us to reassess every aspect of the game and ask ourselves if we would do things differently if we were starting from scratch.' The studio is currently working on both FM24 and the sequel, leveraging its expanded resources. This new approach signifies a seismic change in the studio's mindset. The current focus on FM24 is to create the definitive Football Manager experience, at least within the existing framework. Notably, the studio has been hinting at this transformation through subtle changes in branding and promotion, such as the introduction of rips in the logo and taglines like 'Tear up the script.' While Jacobson cannot divulge specific details, he emphasizes that FM25 is being built from the ground up, leveraging two decades of experience. The studio is utilizing anonymized data on player behavior to redesign the user interface, aiming for the most efficient and user-friendly experience possible. A significant change for FM25 is the transition to the Unity engine, marking the first time the series will use an external engine. Jacobson expresses satisfaction with the progress, particularly with the game's visuals and the 3D match engine. The shift to Unity is expected to enhance the game's overall quality, as the studio's artists can now showcase their skills with improved tools. The engine team conducted an investigation, known as Project Dragonfly, into alternative engines, and the choice of Unity was based on their recommendation. The entire engine team will be retained, although some roles will evolve. The move to Unity will result in changes to the game's system specifications, requiring slightly more recent PC hardware, although the studio aims to support machines that are 12 to 15 years old. Sports Interactive is collaborating closely with the engine provider to acquire the necessary tools for FM25. This partnership is likely to contribute to overall engine improvements for other customers. Jacobson believes that the shift to commercial engines like Unity or Unreal is driven by the benefits of added resources and the ease of hiring experienced talent. However, he does not think this signals the decline of proprietary engines, as some studios will continue to prefer complete control over their technology. The studio has undergone significant changes, expanding from around 100 employees to nearly 290. This growth has necessitated a new management structure, and the studio has become more organized. As a result, work on FM24 and FM25 began earlier than usual, with a more structured approach to design and development. The franchise has experienced substantial growth, with the player base increasing from two million to over five million. Jacobson attributes this success to partnerships with Game Pass, Apple Arcade, and PlayStation, as well as the appeal of the game to new players. This growth has provided the studio with a better understanding of how different types of players interact with the game. Sports Interactive dedicates significant time to monitoring player behavior, ensuring that the game caters to a wide range of players, from casual newcomers to hardcore fans. With 20 years of Football Manager experience feeding into the first true sequel, Jacobson is focused on setting the stage for the next 30 years. While he does not expect to be involved in another true sequel in the future, he believes that the current transformation will have a lasting impact on the series.