Tag Archives: championship manager

Miles Jacobson, studio director for Sports Interactive, has broken his silence on why his studio left Eidos in 2003. Turns out, the studio though Eidos was looking to replace it with Beautiful Game Studios, while life president Ian Livingstone said the firm brought the later into the fold because it has heard rumors Sports Interactive were planning to split.

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GI’s reporting that Championship Manager developer Beautiful Game Studios is to lose around 80 percent of its staff.

“Posts will either be cut or relocated to China in a cost-cutting exercise, while Roy Meredith will continue to lead the studio, and the ChampMan brand will remain headquartered in London,” says the report.

The studio was bought up by Square Enix along with the rest of Eidos earlier this year.

More through there.

Eidos has sent word that the next instalment of the Championship Manager franchise will get up and running in September.

The game promises “a host of unique, cutting-edge technology including a bespoke 3D match engine with over 500 individual player animations, a Set-piece creator giving users the chance to create their own unique free kicks and corners, Scouting Networks allowing users to set-up local networks in countries around the world and grow local player knowledge and Practice matches helping users select their perfect team or trial new players.”

So if you like sleepless nights, no relationship and very little in the way of nourishment, place your pre-order now.

Full thing after the break.

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Beautiful Game Studios’ Roy Meredith has said he wouldn’t want to pay money for SI Games’ online footy sim, Football Manager Live.

“I have played Football Manager Live and I don’t really get why I’d spend money on it because it’s too deep for me to want,” said Meredith to Videogamer.

“I like Football Manager, I like playing it by myself. Football Manager Live is just a bit too time consuming for me, and I understand there will be a market for it but not me personally.”

Championship Manager 09 is out in April.

More through the link.

By Mike Bowden

Speaking with CVG, Beautiful Game Studios general manager, Roy Meredith, has said he believes that there is a 90 percent piracy rate for the company’s Championship Manager series.

He’s got the stats to prove it too: “That’s not just a number in the air, we can measure it and we know that there are a huge amount of pirated copies,” said Meredith.

“There’s a real issue around DRM … I’d love to defeat pirates, but actually, with all this mess on Spore and Football Manager, which I haven’t been able to play this year… I spent about three hours trying to go through this registration process and I really want to play it but I’ve got other things to do with my life.

“There are actually other ways of dealing with piracy too,” he added. “One is to compete price-wise. We haven’t got to pay royalties to Sony or Microsoft, so we can go into territories and price compete.”

By Mike Bowden

Eidos has confirmed that the next Championship Manager game will release in April next year.

“We have a whole host of new features which we’re incredibly proud of,” said dev boss Roy Meredith.

“This is a new beginning for the Championship Manager franchise and we are 100 percent focused on getting it right, that’s why we have had a longer development time than any previous version of the game.”

The title’s got a 3D match engine, new navigation and over 500 animations per player, apparently.

Meredith said a demo would release in March.

Press release after the link.

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Speaking to GI, Roy Meredith, general manager at Eidos developer Beautiful Game Studios, has admitted that the “new” Championship Manager has been left wanting, but has insisted the situation can be turned around.

“For too long we’ve not had a vision that explains what Championship Manager is. No vision, no direction – where are we within that genre? We want to create a strong alternative, a competitor to Football Manager – irrespective of what they do, we need to be clear on what ChampMan is all about, and identify where we need to be.”

A strong game will bring the punters back, Meredith said.

“We did some research this year, and looked at football fans in general, and Championship Manager is probably one of the strongest brand names there in gaming.”

“So at the end of 2008 we’re in a strong place in terms of name, but people aren’t buying into our franchise,” he said.

“What we need to do is give consumers a reason to believe the franchise again. They know the fundamentals, the basics of the game, and they need to know the quality of the game is strong, because for too long it hasn’t been.”

More through the link.