Sports Interactive

Last updated

Sports Interactive Limited
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Founded1994;31 years ago (1994)
Founders
Headquarters
London
,
England
Key people
Products
Number of employees
285 [1]  (2024)
Parent Sega (2006–present)
Website sports-interactive.com

Sports Interactive Limited is a British video game developer based in London, best known for the Football Manager series. Founded by brothers Oliver and Paul Collyer in July 1994, the studio was acquired in 2006 by Sega, a Japanese video game publisher, and became part of Sega Europe. [3] In addition to its work on Football Manager, the studio has also created a number of other sports-management simulations, including NHL Eastside Hockey Manager and Championship Manager Quiz , and is the former developer of Championship Manager .

Contents

History

Founded by Paul Collyer and Oliver Collyer, the company is commonly abbreviated to SI amongst fans of their games.[ citation needed ] In 2003, Sports Interactive split with former publisher Eidos Interactive and signed a deal with Sega to continue their flagship sports franchise under the new name Football Manager . After the split, both parties kept their intellectual property. Sports Interactive kept the base code, the game database and programming of the game, whilst Eidos kept the rights to the Championship Manager franchise.[ citation needed ]

On 28 June 2012, Miles Jacobson and Ian Livingstone revealed why they split from Eidos Interactive and joined Sega. In a chat with GameHorizon, Jacobson thought that Beautiful Game Studios was brought in to take over Championship Manager, whilst Livingstone thought that Eidos Interactive brought Beautiful Game Studios to protect the firm in case Sports Interactive jumped ship. Jacobson commented, saying, "I'm sure there are two sides to this story, at the time we felt there was a lack of respect that we did for our work from Eidos. There seemed to be an attitude at the time in the industry that anyone could make games." He continued by saying, "Eidos wanted more control. We wanted more control. We were asking for high royalties. Eidos set up Beautiful Game Studios nine months before Championship Manager 4 was due to come out. They told me that BGS were making a platform game. I thought our number was up." [4] He then further elaborated by saying, "I went for a curry with the CEO of Sega in Japan and Europe, and he made me an offer on a napkin, I kept telling them we were not for sale. I told them they would have to double the offer for me to even discuss it with Paul and Oliver Collyer." [4] On 4 April 2006, it was announced that Sega Holdings Europe Ltd, holding company for Sports Interactive's publisher's Sega, had acquired Sports Interactive. When Sega acquired the company, it had 34 employees. [2]

In 2018, Sports Interactive relocated from Old Street in Islington to the Here East development in Stratford. Now occupying half of the first floor in the Press Centre, the studio has 285 permanent employees in addition to more than 1,400 researchers worldwide for its Football Manager games. The studio is closely linked with War Child and has donated a percentage of each game sale directly to the charity since 2006, an initiative that has raised a total of more than £1.5 million. [5] The studio has begun developing partnerships with leading football clubs and other organisations in recent years. These include Manchester City F.C., Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., Brentford F.C., Burnley F.C., Venezia FC, and Stormzy's project Merky FC. [6] On 29 May 2024, the studio launched a rebrand. Done in conjunction with design practice Monday Nights, the most significant element was the studio updating its logo for the first time since 2004. [7] [8]

Games

Accolades

The Collyers were appointed members of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours for services to the video game industry. [10] At the 2011 New Year Honours, Miles Jacobson was appointed an OBE. [11] In 2021, Sports Interactive were won a Best Places to Work Award at the GamesIndustry.Biz Best Places to Work Awards. They won the same accolade again in 2023. [12] In 2022, the studio won the MCV/Develop Legend Award at the 2022 MCV/Develop Awards. [13] In May 2024, the studio was nominated for both the Sustainability Star Award and Best Mobile Game at the Develop:Star Awards. [14] At the event on 10 July 2024, Sports Interactive received the Develop:Star Award, the event's lifetime achievement gong, in recognition of three decades of achievement and wider contribution to the games industry. [15]

Related Research Articles

Championship Manager is a series of football management simulation video games, the first of which was released in 1992. The Championship Manager brand and game was conceived by brothers Paul and Oliver Collyer. In a scenario typical of many self-made game programming teams in the early days of the industry, the original Championship Manager game was written from their bedroom in Shropshire, England. The brothers subsequently founded a development company to take the game further, Sports Interactive, and moved to Islington, North London. Championship Manager became the most popular football management sim of the later 1990s and early 2000s, regularly setting sales records.

Football Manager, also known as Worldwide Soccer Manager in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game began its life in 1992 as Championship Manager. Following the break-up of their partnership with original publishers Eidos Interactive, triggered by the fiasco release of Championship Manager 4 in 2003, Sports Interactive lost the naming rights to Eidos Interactive but retained the game engine and data, and re-branded the game Football Manager with their new publisher Sega. The latest version of Football Manager, titled Football Manager 2024, was released on 6 November 2023. Football Manager 2024 is the most played title in series history, clocking 7 million players by the end of February 2024.

The UEFA Champions League video game license has been used by five different companies. Debuting in 1996, the series has only had five games published so far, and after being in the hands of Krisalis Software, Silicon Dreams Studio and Konami, the license now lies in the hands of EA and Sega.

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<i>Championship Manager 5</i> 2005 video game

Championship Manager 5 is the fifth installment of the popular Championship Manager of football management simulation video games. It is the first game in the series to be developed by Beautiful Game Studios after the much publicised split between Eidos Interactive and Sports Interactive.

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<i>Football Manager 2008</i> 2007 association football management simulation video game

Football Manager 2008, also known as Worldwide Soccer Manager 2008 in North America and Fútbol Manager 2008 in South America, is a football management simulation video game and the fourth instalment in the Football Manager series developed by Sports Interactive and published by Sega. It was released in October 2007 for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and PlayStation Portable and in March 2008 for Xbox 360. The demo for Football Manager 2008 was released on 30 September 2007. There are over 5,000 playable teams from more than 50 countries.

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<i>Mini Ninjas</i> 2009 video game

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<i>Football Manager 2011</i> 2010 association football management simulation video game

Football Manager 2011 is a football management simulation video game and the eighth instalment in the Football Manager series developed by Sports Interactive and published by Sega. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X on 5 November 2010. It was also released for PlayStation Portable on 26 November 2010. A version for iOS was released on 16 December 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miles Jacobson</span> British businessman

Miles Jacobson OBE is studio director of Sports Interactive, the team behind the Football Manager series of video games, and creators of the original Championship Manager.

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<i>Football Manager 2018</i> 2017 association football management simulation video game

Football Manager 2018 is a football management simulation video game and the fifteenth instalment in the Football Manager series developed by Sports Interactive and published by Sega. It was released worldwide on 10 November 2017 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux. The Nintendo Switch version by Lab42was released on 13 April 2018. For the first time in the series, all three versions of the game were all released on the same day.

<i>Football Manager 2020</i> 2019 association football management simulation video game

Football Manager 2020 is a football management simulation video game and the seventeenth instalment in the Football Manager series developed by Sports Interactive and published by Sega. It was released worldwide on 18 November 2019.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Studio". Sports Interactive. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  2. 1 2 Dring, Christopher (26 February 2018). "New look Sports Interactive names Disney veteran Matt Carroll as COO". Gamesindustry.biz . Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  3. ↑ "The Final Boss". MCV . No. 942. Future Publishing. December 2018. p. 70.
  4. 1 2 Hall, Lee (28 June 2012). "Sports Interactive details split from Eidos after nine years of silence". Edge Magazine. Archived from the original on 28 June 2012.
  5. ↑ "Sports Interactive - Our network and partners - War Child". www.warchild.org.uk. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  6. ↑ "News | Sports Interactive". www.sigames.com. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  7. ↑ "Sports Interactive unveils new logo and brand identity - SI Games". SIgames.com. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  8. ↑ "Sports Interactive | Creators of Football Manager". Sports-Interactive.com. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  9. ↑ "Eastside Hockey Manager is back!". Sports Interactive. 27 January 2017. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  10. ↑ "No. 59282". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2009. p. 14.
  11. ↑ "Football Manager 2011 interview: Miles Jacobson". The Telegraph. 15 February 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  12. ↑ Contributor, GamesIndustry biz Staff (27 September 2023). "Here are the winners of the UK Best Places To Work Awards 2023". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 26 March 2024.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  13. ↑ Wallace, Chris (13 May 2022). "Announcing the winners of the 2022 MCV/DEVELOP Awards!". MCV. ISSN   1469-4832 . Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  14. ↑ "Develop:Star Awards". www.developconference.com. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  15. ↑ "Develop:Star Awards". www.developconference.com. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
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