FMHi2011 / the Japan disaster

[Miles Jacobson]

S.I. and SEGA will be donating all of their revenues from Football Manager Handheld sales on the app store from last Friday when the 'quake hit, for 7 days to an appropriate disaster relief fund for Japan.

Our thoughts are with all the people of Japan at this time.

[rich74]

top stuff miles that's a nice gesture from Si and SEGA, and to echo your thoughts my heart goes out to all the people effected by this disaster

[sKyer_xD]

that's a good idea

[Ultras5314]

Great gesture! Very proud of you guys.

[SazoJohnno]

Very nice gesture!

[dagoonerfan]

Great stuff, a worthy cause

[FM_Benfica]

Great idea...

[Mr Blobby]

Very nice touch.

[Igotsackedforbreakingwind]

Shame I cannot buy another copy

[Jenko_EFC]

Ugh, bought my copy a few weeks ago! Kind gesture guys. Thoughts with the people effected.

[nick1408]

It's a nice gesture but was any thought given to the New Zealand earthquake or Australian floods/cyclones?

Good work though

[Geronimo360]

It's a nice gesture but was any thought given to the New Zealand earthquake or Australian floods/cyclones?

Good work though

You can't expect them to give money away everytime a disaster hits.

Amazing what you guys are doing hope you raise lots to help with the relief effort!

[Wazza10]

nice gesture, well done

[amaya12]

thanks a lot

[AR]

beautiful gesture.

[corney888]

Aussies had under a thousand, Japan's just hit 2. I think it's fair.

[The Bus]

Much appreciated gesture!

[Football Manager.]

very nice gesture however i dont think it should be up to people like SI. i hope that the cod makers EA and the rest should all do something more as they generate so much more money. well done SI.

[Miles Jacobson]

very nice gesture however i dont think it should be up to people like SI. i hope that the cod makers EA and the rest should all do something more as they generate so much more money. well done SI.

Zynga, who make some of the most popular games in the world such as Cityville and Farmville on Facebook, are doing loads of things to raise funds for Save the Children in Japan inside their games, so massive props to them.

[Eggchaser]

Terrific gesture guys. My thoughts are with the Japanese. It's impossible to imagine what they are going through.

[Jibby123]

Nice gesture, but Japan is one of the richest countries in the world. There are many less affluent regions with people suffering day to day with zero hope of the future, unlike Japan.

Good gig on WarChild though SI. My 'fave' charity.

[tbh]

Brilliant gesture!

[jjteo]

Great to see some charity from
SI

[Dodds']

Miles, Si and Sega well done on this!

[rooneymagic88]

What a fantastic gesture.

[Betty Swalls]

for sure great gesture . i hope that others consider to do the same.

[Preveza]

Miles, great to hear this mate. Thoughts out to Japan.

[Hummels]

appreciate

[dking]

I think it would have showed a lot more class to not tell anybody about it.

Theres something very wrong when people give a tiny amount of there money to charity and who then go looking for praise by promoting it. It just comes across as an insincere PR stunt.

[Joseph Davis]

Wow, Miles & SI can't even give money to charity without a couple of people having digs.

Fantastic gesture though, well done.

[niletaylor]

Great effort guys.

[Miles Jacobson]

I think it would have showed a lot more class to not tell anybody about it.

Theres something very wrong when people give a tiny amount of there money to charity and who then go looking for praise by promoting it. It just comes across as an insincere PR stunt.

There are a lot of people out there who are cynical about these kinds of things, which is why we haven't done a press release, nor given any quotes about it. Some press picked up on my tweet, and have put up stories about it, which is up to them.

We have not done this for PR. We don't need to do things like this for PR. Neither do Zynga, nor Sonic (all of the iOS Sonic games also have their revenue going to the relief fund for the same time period now), nor does Street Fighter 4 (again, the app revenues are all going to the relief fund), nor any of the other games companies who are doing great things to raise money for the relief effort.

What we are doing here internally donation wise has not been spoken about, and won't be.

It's a shame that there is so much cynicism out there, as it hampers the possibilities when it comes to charitable things. But I know that just from my tweet, copies of FMHi were sold this week that wouldn't have been normally, with all of our and SEGA's revenue going to the disaster fund. I believe that to be a good thing.

[kerching]

Nothing insincere in my opinion.

It,s a great gesture. Well done.

[dking]

There are a lot of people out there who are cynical about these kinds of things, which is why we haven't done a press release, nor given any quotes about it. Some press picked up on my tweet, and have put up stories about it, which is up to them.

We have not done this for PR. We don't need to do things like this for PR. Neither do Zynga, nor Sonic (all of the iOS Sonic games also have their revenue going to the relief fund for the same time period now), nor does Street Fighter 4 (again, the app revenues are all going to the relief fund), nor any of the other games companies who are doing great things to raise money for the relief effort.

What we are doing here internally donation wise has not been spoken about, and won't be.

It's a shame that there is so much cynicism out there, as it hampers the possibilities when it comes to charitable things. But I know that just from my tweet, copies of FMHi were sold this week that wouldn't have been normally, with all of our and SEGA's revenue going to the disaster fund. I believe that to be a good thing.

Fair enough, Miles. But you cant blame people for being cynical in todays climate. Not many companys, especially big companys, give things away without some sort of gain.

What I should have added in my last post was, if your gesture is sincere, then hats off to you all.

[VMX]

I think it would have showed a lot more class to not tell anybody about it.

Theres something very wrong when people give a tiny amount of there money to charity and who then go looking for praise by promoting it. It just comes across as an insincere PR stunt.

Cynism?

If you announce this, more people might buy the game this week with the intention to donate. SI won't earn money from those extra sales, but announcing this will lead to more donations than if they didn't say anything. So I'd say that it makes perfect sense to announce it.

Furthermore, I bet most people will have forgotten about this kind move by SI when the week is over and/or the post is removed from the forum, so I don't think it's that good as a PR move for them as you claim. It's just a temporary way to increase sales of the app, which will mean more money will go to Japan.

Seems perfectly fine to me, and as always SI doesn't disappoint. Kudos to you guys

[Miles Jacobson]

Fair enough, Miles. But you cant blame people for being cynical in todays climate. Not many companys, especially big companys, give things away without some sort of gain.

What I should have added in my last post was, if your gesture is sincere, then hats off to you all.

Thank you - that is appreciated, although I'm still disappointed that you thought that of us. If you aren't aware, we give a donation to WarChild for every boxed (and digital) sale of the PC/Mac series of the game, and hide the fact in the game manual to ensure that people aren't buying the game just because of the donation.

So with every sale of FM, we give away without wanting any sort of gain. We might be a successful company, but that actually puts us in a position to be able to do things like this for the right reasons, not the wrong ones.

I'm actually going off later this year to see some of the work that the funds raised by WarChild have made possible. I'll be doing a blog of some sort on this trip, not for any gain, but to be able to show some of the work for the people who have actually paid for it, even though they didn't know they were. (I can't say where I'm going, and the blog will actually be time delayed for security reasons, but that's another story for another day)

[J.T]

I personally think its a nice gesture.

[peterb7]

Well done all of you involved i think its a great thing to do

[dking]

Thank you - that is appreciated, although I'm still disappointed that you thought that of us. If you aren't aware, we give a donation to WarChild for every boxed (and digital) sale of the PC/Mac series of the game, and hide the fact in the game manual to ensure that people aren't buying the game just because of the donation.

So with every sale of FM, we give away without wanting any sort of gain. We might be a successful company, but that actually puts us in a position to be able to do things like this for the right reasons, not the wrong ones.

I'm actually going off later this year to see some of the work that the funds raised by WarChild have made possible. I'll be doing a blog of some sort on this trip, not for any gain, but to be able to show some of the work for the people who have actually paid for it, even though they didn't know they were. (I can't say where I'm going, and the blog will actually be time delayed for security reasons, but that's another story for another day)

No, I didn't know you did that for WarChild, so apologys for jumping the gun, and again, hats off to you guys.

Hearing that from you certainly puts a little of my faith back into some big companys and I think it's great how you've actually come out personally to set the record straight. If only a few more companys followed your lead eh? But thats a whole different story.

I wont make any apologys for being a cynic, though, as you guys are most certainly an exception to the rule.

Keep up the good work and of course, I'll be chipping in once a year with a copy of FM

[trekman]

Great stuff Miles

[Jibby123]

Thank you - that is appreciated, although I'm still disappointed that you thought that of us. If you aren't aware, we give a donation to WarChild for every boxed (and digital) sale of the PC/Mac series of the game, and hide the fact in the game manual to ensure that people aren't buying the game just because of the donation.

So with every sale of FM, we give away without wanting any sort of gain. We might be a successful company, but that actually puts us in a position to be able to do things like this for the right reasons, not the wrong ones.

I'm actually going off later this year to see some of the work that the funds raised by WarChild have made possible. I'll be doing a blog of some sort on this trip, not for any gain, but to be able to show some of the work for the people who have actually paid for it, even though they didn't know they were. (I can't say where I'm going, and the blog will actually be time delayed for security reasons, but that's another story for another day)

I love that my favourite computer game is linked in with my favourite charity. When SI linked in to War Child it wasn't such a well known charity, kudos to you for bringing it in to the conscience of more than a few gamers.

The plight of children, who were all truly innocent without an agenda and suffered so much in the Bosnian war leaves scars and deep unease to this day for me and I can not see the charity logo on the game without thinking of some pretty special little one's from that time to wondering how they eventually fared. That Warchild, and to a point SI, help people in similar situations today I can not praise enough. Eases my own demons.

[Lord Rowell]

Really lovely to hear this. Well done to SI and SEGA :-)

[Ratrug101]

Nice Gesture... Another reason towards me purchasing it

[USA Bhoy]

Good to see Miles and the SI staff helping out.

[Marco]

I’m glad and proud to be part of a Community where there’s also space for this kind of gesture.
Since tragic events are always followed with emotion and participation in the first few weeks but, after some weeks, they are, little by little, forgotten or maybe sadly replaced by other events, I would like to propose to add another future gesture by our Community.

I just think that the cost of FM12, next edition of our game, might be increased by a certain sum (let’s say: from 50p to £ 1) and this extra should go to a Japanese disaster relief fund. Of course I might expect that S.I. and Sega would complement the risen sum, considering their commercial benefits from this gesture.

A poll might be promoted on this Forum in order to know what people here think about it. In my opinion, if there will be more than 80% “Yes”, this thing might be done and playing FM12 would have an extra meaning.

Thanks for your attention.

[Fabio MVP]

Poll results wouldn't be realistic as on these forums are just a handful FM players.

[Miles Jacobson]

Marco - if you look above and read my posts, you'll know that we already make a donation for each game we sell to a chairity (War Child). That will continue certainly for as long as I'm at the studio...

The problem with adding extra cost for donations is the administration. If you put a pound onto the dealer price, some retailers will raise the price by more. If you ask retail to add it on, some will, some won't, some will give the money over, some won't - it's basically asking for things not in our control (like retail) to play ball on a global basis. Previous experience shows that that doesn't work, unfortunately.