Sports Interactive listen to consumer feedback to create the best Football Manager in the series yet
Sports Interactive & SEGA of America, Inc. today announces Football Manager 2010 formerly known as Worldwide Soccer Manager in North America. The game will be available on multiple platforms including the PC, Apple Macintosh and for the first time ever Football Manager Handheld 2010 will be available via download for the PSP in North America. The game will be available for download purchase on October 30th, 2009; boxed editions will be available on November 2nd, 2009 exclusively at Amazon.com.
Football Manager 2009 is the most successful in the Football Manager series to date, selling in over 1 million copies worldwide. According to data gathered from Football Manager 2009, people played the game for an average of 240 hours each and developer Sports Interactive has spent the last year working closely with consumers and the Football Manager community to implement key improvements to this year’s game. Football Manager 2010 features new tools and changes across the board including some big additions to improve ease of use, navigation and feedback from the game with the introduction of a brand new match tactics system, the debut of a Match Analysis tool, a completely new look and new User Interface among other features.
“We have worked very hard with the Football Manager community to target not only the areas of the game that needed re-working but also what we could add to improve what’s already there. We’ve also conducted extensive usability studies which has led us to overhaul the whole presentation of the game, which we’re really excited about,” said Miles Jacobson, Studio Director at Sports Interactive. “There has been a lot of polish to existing areas of the game but it’s also driven us to introduce changes to answer some of the feedback. We’re very confident that having done that we will deliver the very best Football Manager to date in October.”
The introduction of a Tactics Creator makes it easier to instruct the team to play the way the manager wants, alongside the introduction of touchline ‘shouts’ and quick tactic changes for instantly altering your team’s playing style during the match. Working with coaches from various levels of football, alongside some of the Football Manager communities most respected independent tacticians, the game now has an extensive array of pre-set tactical options allowing the user to select a player’s role in the team (such as ‘Ball winning midfielder’ or ‘Deep lying playmaker’), however the option to use the old ‘slider’ controls remains.
Feedback from matches has been improved to give the user better insight into where their team is going, wrong or right. A new Match Analysis tool lets players see where shots, passes, crosses, headers, tackles, fouls and interceptions have been made on the field for all players on the pitch. Managers can view this analysis both live in-game and post match, allowing them to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of both their team and their opponent’s and adjust their tactics accordingly.
Football Manager 2010 features a brand new User Interface, with a light or a dark skin to choose from as part of a vibrant new look and has undergone a complete navigational overhaul. The side bar navigation of previous years has been replaced by an intuitive tab system at the top of the screen, making Football Manager’s famed depth easier to navigate and will make the game more accessible to new players.
A brand new Data Editor will allow the addition of new divisions to existing leagues and of entirely new leagues as well as making it easier to keep the game up to date for free. The delivery of information to the manager has been refined now allowing users to sign up to the News Center, an in-game subscription based newspaper that lets you get the news that you want about the football world and filter out the stories that you do not need, making the football world as immersive as you want it to be.
