FM Classic: How it could work

I know this is an old chestnut and typically shot down by SI as unfeasible due to the amount of research required and implications for forward planning/newgens, but hear me out.

With the implementation of a 3D match engine, FM has progressed to a level where the game module itself is capable of standing alone. Being more of a hirer-firer, wheeler-dealer type than a tactical mastermind, this innovation (whilst hugely welcome) didn't seem earth-shatteringly significant to me at first.

But the move could render practical the retro football FM game which has long been on the wishlist of many fans. A club edition of such a game may still be impractical for all the obvious reasons (acquiring and evaluating thousands of players on whom records may be scant, deciding at what point the game diverges from reality etc) but there's now no reason why a "snapshot in time" international version couldn't be pursued.

Imagine...

FM CLASSIC: WORLD CUP LEGENDS

The game you grew up with takes you back in time. Back to an era of legendary players and immortal teams. Take control of the most spectacular talents the world has even seen as you blaze a trail through the classic World Cups of 1966-1978.

Features:

• Accurate and painstakingly researched squads from every team at every tournament. The talents of Pelé, Cruyff, Charlton, Eusebio, Beckenbauer, Kempes and dozens more all at your fingertips.
  
• Pit your wits against those of the game's most brilliant tacticians. Can you counter Rinus Michels's Total Football? Face up to the firepower of Mario Zagallo's Brazil of 1970? Outwit Ramsey's Wingless Wonders?
  
• Hone and condition your squad with the newly improved pre-tournament training module. Organise your friendly schedule against fully-researched contemporary opponents.
  
• Follow in the footsteps of the legends or opt to change history. Squad and team selection is in your hands. Think a teenager called Maradona was ready for World Cup action in 1978? Choose him and find out!
  
• Realistic and faithful reproductions of all relevant stadia and weather conditions. Will you wilt in the fierce Mexican heat or stick in the German mud?
  
• Manage the diverse personalities of your squad and interact with the voracious media of the day.
  
• Recreate some of the World Cup's most enduring underdog stories. Lead North Korea to glory or guide Zaire through the group stages!
  

The above obviously is just an example of how it could work (incidentally, I don't think 1966 was a classic World Cup but the British market would lap it up!) All the relevant player data for the qualified and near-qualified teams is a matter of public record and could be accurately researched within a matter of weeks.

The game itself would simply be a stripped down version of FM with whatever tweaks had been made to the code in the meantime added (such as the stadia, for example.) Possible complications would be the necessary adjustments to the backpass and offside rules, but these would hardly be insurmountable. Licensing could pose a problem too, though since the FIFA World Cup is already in-game this might not be an issue.

Obviously the series could be expanded to different World Cups, Euros, qualifiers etc over time. Personally I think it would make a terrific mid-cycle release (even via digital download) which would return good profits for minimal outlay and offer fans with what they want, as well as providing a test-bed for new features.

AFAIK the logistics of actually carrying this out and making it playable and accurate would be an absolute nightmare, if all this was possible, however, I would probably play it and enjoy it, but it would only keep my attention for a short period of time, just something I would play a coupla times before the hankering for the modern game would overtake me,

I know there is probably a market for this, it just seems like a flash in the pan idea to me, some kind of novelty product really

i read in the bootroom such wonderful past teams league read the 4th issue there you'll find lots of it

or just send an email to their creators to lend you the database on which they made the simulations

It's a no from me and the reason is this line, "painstakingly researched squads from every team at every tournament", I just don't think it's a good enough addition to the game for SI to spend money on lots of staff or spend time on rather than improve an up to date game.

Also, things like this can be created using the editor and IMO anything that fansites do on a regular basis and to a very high standard, SI shouldn't bother with.

Perhaps it would work, if there was a different team devoted to this idea, in the same way there is a different team for FM LIve, but I don't think it appeals to enough people to justofy the immense cost of staffing etc. If they wanted to make that money back, they would have to charge extra, or release it as a series of downloadable databases that you had to pay for, I doubt many people would be interested in that.

It's a no from me and the reason is this line, "painstakingly researched squads from every team at every tournament", I just don't think it's a good enough addition to the game for SI to spend money on lots of staff or spend time on rather than improve an up to date game.

That was just marketing speak, assembling the db would be the cheapest aspect of the process by far.

You're talking about, by my reckoning, 1,408 players (16*22*4), and that's including recurrences as multiple players. There are hundred of times that number in the database currently, most of them researched gratis by the community. All the players in the notional game described above would be full internationals and amongst the best their respective countries produced, their dates of birth and career histories are readily available (even on fifa.com and Wikipedia.) For example, any England fan worth his salt could produce a profile for each member of the 1966 World Cup winning squad in a couple of hours. The whole process would take a few weeks and cost next to nothing.

So you wouldn't pick your international squad, just choose an already decided one?

Seems a very limited game to me.

Maybe a free download would be fun for an hour or so, but Im not sure many people would pay for this.

I think it's a good idea. I've always wanted SI to do something like this. I appreciate you can edit or use mods but there is nothing like playing a game with the 'official' stamp of SI.

ATM all mods with legends are too mixed up with modern players and, because the likes of pele, charlton, maradona etc are (rightly) rememebered as legends, they seem to all max out at 20 on their stats which leads to a rather boring,pointless game.

I, like you have had many ideas for a classic game but it needs to be considered in such a way that it would not be a 5-minute novelty and would be as deeply engrossing as all the FM/CM's of the past.

You're talking about, by my reckoning, 1,408 players

The whole process would take a few weeks and cost next to nothing.

Assembling the database, maybe. Giving the players realistic attributes, hidden attributes, club affiliations etc etc would take a long time, and require actual staff rather than volunteers, it would cost more than you think.

Not to mention the fact that whilst lots of people know about the England 1966 team, how many know what Brian Kidd's concentration attribute was? It would be complete guess work and just wouldn't work.

Maybe if enough archive footage could be amassed though. Certainly it would be difficult to judge players pre-television age but post there is footage (although admittedly it would be diffuclt to judge Kidd's concentration on 5-10mins of footage).

I think though that BBC/ITV do archive a lot of matches/the big match/match of the day so there is a possibility.

You've went some way towards proving my point Archive footage for 1,408 players would be hard to come by and researching it would be a laborious and ultimately costly process.

Don't get me wrong, in theory the idea is nice, but it's not feasible and I don't like it enough to have to pay extra for it.

Don't forget that the rules have changed over the years and many of the 'legends' therefore played under different conditions.

shoot me down, but its a waste of time

its not financially benificial for SI and not worth the effort

in theory ,yeah its a intresting thought

in reality its not viable

i also do not think there is that much demand for such a game, if so im sure SI would be ahead of the game to capitalise it

after all, some people on here forget, SI is as much a business as high quality football sim

ang's theory is that all media (entertaintment,newspapers,tv etc etc) is created just to make money, i dont think he's far wrong

Would probably be good as an extension game, but not as a stand alone game.