Football Manager Live is the Future of Sports Games

Gamers who are also football enthusiasts might be playing FIFA 09 from Electronic Arts, if they are more interested in taking on the role of the footballers as they play the beautiful game on the field, or Football Manager 2009, if they are more keen on the managing aspect of football, but the real future of games simulating the most popular sport in the world might lie in another Sports Interactive title, Football Manager Live. It was released as a digital download on November 4, 2008 and a boxed copy will arrive later in January.

The idea behind the game is to cross football management and online mechanics. Players who sign up and pay a subscription will be partnered up with others and will be entered into a league. Regular games take place during three weeks, with one week presented as a transfer period.

Almost all the aspects of Football Manager 09 are present: players can change line ups, create training schedules, swap players and take on scouts and other club positions. The major difference is that other human players are similarly managing the other teams in the same league. Instead of playing endless seasons against computer controlled teams, players will need to be ready for the tactics of football management enthusiasts.

And Sports Interactive is not taking the MMO route when it comes to updates. The developers will not offer expansions one year apart but will rather be interested in creating new mechanics that will quickly be integrated in Football Manager Live.

Miles Jacobson, the director of Sports Interactive, said that “Rather than taking the standard MMO model of releasing a game, then releasing expansion packs every couple of years, we've decided to use a 'constant' development model, and will be adding new features every few months as part of the subscription price. As long as it passes through QA without issues, the people who have been subscribed to the game for a while will get their first update at around the time of the game's launch at retail.”