Would other sports benefit by an SI Management Sim?

[William Hall]

Rugby League Manager would be great

The game is not for 'nancies'

Name a player that's good and we'll find someone better

[pieman99]

This thread is a joke right? NFL management? Who actually cares outside the US? Same goes for Baseball, basketball, or any other American games that exist simply to make Americans feel better 'cos they're "the best in the world" at them.

I like watching Rugby (but only union) and Cricket (mostly tests) but I doubt either of these would be financially viable, especially the cricket.

This thread should be closed and deleted, to make sure SI don't get distracted from what really matters.

I agree that the market for "American Football" would primarly be North America...however that market probably surpasses Europe as a whole. The money in the NFL is staggering. In soccer...based on 2007 data, in the whole world there are only 4 teams worth over a billion US dollars. In the NFL, again based 2007 data, there were 19 NFL teams worth over a billion. With an additional 2-3 that were just a few million short of that. NFL teams get almost three times the TV money a year than the EPL team gets and the EPL gets the most tv money for a soccer league in the world. Even with the bump that the EPL will get in TV money starting next season the NFL will still be more than twice (approximately 90 million vs approx 40 million) under it's current contract. Additionally, Americans as a whole will buy more games than Europeans will. We love the NFL and are willing to spend money on it. Hell even that piece of crap game NFL Coach by EA, made good money in the US and it sucked. So it's not about whether you like the game or not or even if nobody else outside of North America would like it...it's about whether or not the North American customer would like it and support it.

I do agree with you that it can be a bit insulting to the rest of the world when "Americans" call the NBA Champion the World Champion and the MLB Champion the World Series Champion..when they are not world champions just league champions. However, I disagree with you that these sports only exist for Americans...they like soccer (football) are true international sports.

[AustSaint]

I have played OOTP, EHM and some of the NFL management games and they all were good in their own way. As an Australian I appreciate and enjoy most sports, I love FM as it is so detailed but I did spend just as much time playing the other games as I do FM. I think management sim nuts will love the game, no matter what the sport. FM is still my first choice though.

[nick1408]

Aussie Rules Manager would kill!

[ben136]

I agree that the market for "American Football" would primarly be North America...however that market probably surpasses Europe as a whole. The money in the NFL is staggering. In soccer...based on 2007 data, in the whole world there are only 4 teams worth over a billion US dollars. In the NFL, again based 2007 data, there were 19 NFL teams worth over a billion. With an additional 2-3 that were just a few million short of that. NFL teams get almost three times the TV money a year than the EPL team gets and the EPL gets the most tv money for a soccer league in the world. Even with the bump that the EPL will get in TV money starting next season the NFL will still be more than twice (approximately 90 million vs approx 40 million) under it's current contract. Additionally, Americans as a whole will buy more games than Europeans will. We love the NFL and are willing to spend money on it. Hell even that piece of crap game NFL Coach by EA, made good money in the US and it sucked. So it's not about whether you like the game or not or even if nobody else outside of North America would like it...it's about whether or not the North American customer would like it and support it.

I do agree with you that it can be a bit insulting to the rest of the world when "Americans" call the NBA Champion the World Champion and the MLB Champion the World Series Champion..when they are not world champions just league champions. However, I disagree with you that these sports only exist for Americans...they like soccer (football) are true international sports.

Not to sidetrack too much, but MLB and the NBA are the best leagues by quite a wide margin in their specific sports worldwide.

Calling them "world champions" isn't all that far of stretch, if at all.

Now with something like the World Baseball Classic, you could make an arguement, however, the best players from each nation are not playing in that touranment and they never will, because MLB teams don't want their players getting injured in what is a meaningless tournament. Dice-K is a good example.

It's the same issue club teams have in football releasing players for international duty. Difference being that international football actually means something. International competitions for MLB, NBA, and the NFL are pretty much worthless.

[Deisler26]

Another vote for EHM.

[Ter]

The chances of us expanding into other sports is even slimmer these days with developers / publishers taking less risks and a lot of people throughout the industry sadly losing their jobs.

We said a while back when development stopped on EHM that we were going to concentrate on football games and that hasn't changed.

I don't know all their sporting passions but I can imagine football takes more than the lion's share, so any other game would probably be a half assed broken game.

That may be true to a certain extent (gameplay, rules etc) but just because someone isn't hardcore into a certain sport doesn't mean they won't put everything into working on it.

[Misodoctakleidist]

Chess Manager 2011

Manage your chess player from the amateur tournaments all the way to Grandmaster status. Now with 3D match engine!

[Ike013]

A F1 manager would be greatly appreciated by many people I think and I guess a 3D race simulation wouldn't even be required in the first versions, a good old 2D map would be way better

[kieronbrown73]

Everybody has mentioned that there are other sims out there for all the sports mentioned, but no other software house does them the justice that SI could.

I am in no way employed or connected to SI or SEGA so don't feel that I have other motives for this thread. I just feel that there is a market for high quality sports management sims, and I think it is supported by most of the responses on this thread albeit from what appears to be mainly a North American perspective.

[kieronbrown73]

A F1 manager would be greatly appreciated by many people I think and I guess a 3D race simulation wouldn't even be required in the first versions, a good old 2D map would be way better

You could manage a team starting in the lower echelons of motorsport (karting) and slowly work your way up the ranks to become the F1 Manager.

[woody2goody]

I'm liking the Rugby Manager idea, I think it would work really well. I like Rugby but I'm not the biggest fan in the world, but I would be intrigued as to how it would play.

Pretty much all the other ideas are good. Anything from Pro Wrestling, American Football, Ice Hockey, F1, Cricket - all these would be very good games.

PS - International Cricket Captain is still going - I think I've got the 2008 one.

[tdpats12]

I'm an American who grew up with and has a huge passion for the NFL. However, one of the biggest draws (for me) to FM is all the leagues and countries involved. In all my time playing FM, I hardly ever play any teams from the larger leagues. I find it much more satisfying playing in smaller leagues.

Meaningful professional american football only exists in the US. Canada comes in 2nd, but it's a huge dropoff in every way. I think it would get kind of old playing a long term NFL sim. Thre's also only 1 league. There would no satisfaction of bringing a lower league tierd team up to the prime time. It would be basically, you pick one of 32 possible teams, play in only 1 available league, have no world competitions, no regional competitions, and only 1 league competition.

All that said, I'd still give it a go.

Well, if it was given the full Football Manager treatment, it'd be something like this, in order:

-National Football League

-Canadian Football League

-Arena League (probly defunct, but for discussion's sake)

-College Football ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_football#Team_maps )

--Big Ten

--SEC

--ACC

--Big East

--Pac-10

--Big 12

--MAC

--C-USA

--MWC

--Sun Belt

--WAC

--Independents

--Numerous Championship Subdivision schools (formerly DI-A)

--Numerous Division II schools

--Numerous Division III schools

-High School Football

--think Friday Night Lights.

Obviously acquiring players at each level would be dramatically different, but there's plenty of opportunities to play in different levels and parts of the US. You could even throw in the zombie NFL Europa or obscure non-American leagues. The only comparison to say, getting a LL team promoted would probably be to take a DI-A team up into DI, then in get them invited to a BCS conference. But an NFL game would likely be more about your own career as a Head Coach, and if you wanted a career game you'd start in say, High School, and work your way up.

Though I think basketball would be the best potential FM game, baseball is just such a complicated game that even I - as a pretty hardcore fan of it - was overwhelmed by say, OOTP.

[_Asprilla_]

Please no - SI obviously need all of their resources to produce FM....

[kieronbrown73]

Please no - SI obviously need all of their resources to produce FM....

As it appears there is a market for it and I am sure SEGA would dearly love to stick another pin into EA's bubble surely it worth investing a little time and effort into producing a basic demo to see if the paying public really have an appetite for it. I am sure that all software houses have ideas that they try out but never mass market.

[_Asprilla_]

As it appears there is a market for it and I am sure SEGA would dearly love to stick another pin into EA\\\'s bubble surely it worth investing a little time and effort into producing a basic demo to see if the paying public really have an appetite for it. I am sure that all software houses have ideas that they try out but never mass market.

At the expense of FM? Surely you cannot deny that they require all of their current resources on making this complex game?

Neil Brock has already said this would be difficult to implement.

[kieronbrown73]

At the expense of FM? Surely you cannot deny that they require all of their current resources on making this complex game?

Neil Brock has already said this would be difficult to implement.

Why would this be at the expense of FM or does SI not have access to SEGA's resources?

[Takamaru]

Please no - SI obviously need all of their resources to produce FM....

Quite honestly, it would be normal business practice to expand resources when expanding the product range. e.g. It would be a well thought out and researched investment made by SI to acquire staff (if) necessary to build both games.

[Peachy Bum]

I'd love a Rugby Union manager. I'd probably play that just as much as FM! But it'd probably take years to get a decent ME that i wouldn't moan about.

A Boxing manager would also be cool.

[Tealy]

Maybe in 5 or 10 years when the job market is more stable we could see some of these released. I would personally love an F1 management game. It's been successful in the past but got neglected to the point where the most popular F1 management games now were originally released in the mid to late 90's.

However I wouldn't want to see a new game from SI if it was to the detriment of the FM series. Maybe a smaller developer could give it a try first then the big companies can latch onto it if it is successful.

[Just-Wool]

Still waiting for Cooking Manager tbh.

[kieronbrown73]

Still waiting for Cooking Manager tbh.

As long as I don't have to manage Gordon Ramsey!!!!

[Almondo]

As long as I don't have to manage Gordon Ramsey!!!!

Or that Anthony Worrall Thompson bloke

[pr1celess]

I know its not a sport for say but a Wrestling Manager made by the great people here would be awesome I know there is a few wrestling sims out there like TEW etc but I think you guys could make an even better game, Id also like a Mixed Martial Arts Manager.

Extreme Warfare Revenge is a very good management sim, but could be made so much better by SI! Check it out if you get a chance - just raid ROH!

[pieman99]

Not to sidetrack too much, but MLB and the NBA are the best leagues by quite a wide margin in their specific sports worldwide.

Calling them "world champions" isn't all that far of stretch, if at all.

Sidetracking a bit here...while I agree that the MLB and the NBA are the best leagues for their sports....however winning them does not make you a world champion. Most people agree that the EPL is the best soccer league in the world, but winning it does not make you the World Champion...or even the European Champion...rather it makes the team the English Champion.

[Intro]

Just bringing back the EHM...

[lukekarts]

I'd pay good money for NBA Manager. Yes, just the one association, it'd be a pretty simple, straightforward game but much, much better than the 'association' modes on NBA 2KXX and NBA Live XX.

An F1, or 'Motorsports' Manager game would be great too, you could have Karting, F3, F2, GP2 & F1 in there.

[aadam]

Well, I bought EHM07 but I don't really like it... The ME is not very exciting, you can tell from every highlights whether there's going to be a goal in the end or not, even in extended mode. CPU-teams cannot judge the true value of a player (even worse than FM ). I couldn't really get my prospects to develop, although I don't think I'm doing anything wrong.

As for F1, EA's game from about 2000 was one of the poorest quality computer games I've ever played. Anyway, how do you make an F1-simulation that is playable on long term when no one knows what's going to change next season IRL? A 'random-rule-change' generator should be built in. I don't think many people care about this whole cabaret called Formula1 these days (I've been a long time fan but not anymore), a retro game should be much more better.

[gunner86]

I'd love another decent F1 management game. I own GPM2 but Vista won't play it...

[LARulz]

NFL would be amazing, could do a lot better than EA's sorry ass attempt at the management sim

[Cammy22]

Defo, since the change in rules n stuff in F1, there is alot more interest after it got boring for a couple of years.

Now is the time for the ultimate F1 Managment Sim... and SI are the peeps to do it!

[kieronbrown73]

So it would appear the leading contenders for a new SI Sports Management Sim are -

American Football

Ice Hockey

Basket Ball

F1

Would be nice to know if SI have given any serious thought into branching out into other Sports Sims.

[Some Guy!]

Cricket would be a decent shout.

There's still a market for Cricket Captain, and that game is pretty much the same thing it was back in the 90s.

If SI could make even a half decent one they'd be rolling in it!

Well, not rolling in it, but able to tap into a new market!

[Cammy22]

Cricket is not a very big seller worldwide, well... not compared to F1. F1 is truly global, where as cricket is played by and watched by a handfull of countries. Just look at UK, each of the four home nations live and die for football, but cricket... well.. just England and maybe Wales in the UK play/watch it. Add West Indies, Australia, NZ, Srilanka, India, Pakistan and South Africa.. and that is your lot almost... not too many is there? Now football is played and watched by every continent in the world, as is F1, therefor surelt F1 would be the logical one to produce?

[Takamaru]

Anyway, how do you make an F1-simulation that is playable on long term when no one knows what's going to change next season IRL? A 'random-rule-change' generator should be built in.

Personally I don't think the rule changes will be a huge issue in terms of game development. If you look at the FM series, SI release a new version on a yearly basis. This version is always up-to-date on the latest rule changes, which means for the full year that the game is current, the rules are up to date and will be up to date into the future.

If regulations for the next season change, they are updated for next years FM version. Same would apply for an F1 game. Though I do agree, these rule changes are more likely and more frequent in F1 than in FM, I don't think it'll be much of an issue at all in terms of gameplay experience.

I think one of the biggest reasons F1 management games have not been developed much in recent times has to do with the rights to the sport which are (I think) still owned by EA. However, if this is true I can imagine this is easily bypassed by creating an F1 like racing game with a very easy to use data editor. FM games have shown it is only a matter of time before extensive accurate databases are released by the fanbase.

[sthptngomad76]

Rugby League 2 by Sidhe had a management side to it, but it was basic, an almost childish attempt.

Basically all you could do was choose your team, hire & fire, choose training level (low-high).

It was aimed mainly at playing the game yourself....shame. A Rugby league game like the FM series would be the ultimate game for me.

You NEED to try Rugby League Manager. Google it- its freeware and not too bad, albeit a bit of an FM 2005 clone

[sthptngomad76]

Rugby League 2 by Sidhe had a management side to it, but it was basic, an almost childish attempt.

Basically all you could do was choose your team, hire & fire, choose training level (low-high).

It was aimed mainly at playing the game yourself....shame. A Rugby league game like the FM series would be the ultimate game for me.

Rugby League Manager would be great

The game is not for 'nancies'

Name a player that's good and we'll find someone better

http://www.rugbyleaguemanager.co.uk/

[fdawsoniv]

I would love to play an SI NFL management sim. Even better if the college game was integrated. The lack of relegation and there being only one league does not prevent Madden from being among the best sellers in America every year.

No, I think the obstacle is the mentality of the American gamer. EA made a pretty good management sim in NFL Head Coach 09 (the first attempt was terrible, but the second was pretty decent) but it sold terribly. Most of the sales were in the Madden two-pack. It just doesn't fit US gamers or NFL fans. They want their hands on the ball, so to speak. Even though an NFL sim would involve much more through the game through playcalling and substitutions, there's not enough action for a market dominated by first person shooters. The crowd who want a true coaching simulation are hugely the minority.

[HammerDaFanBois]

SI's "Demolition Derby". It crashes often but thats that whole point...

[lance101]

I would love a SI basketball management game. Starting with the NBA and slowly expanding to include leagues worldwide... I don't think it would be quite as successful as FM, but done right would have at least one very strong market (US).

[lil ole me]

a rugby league game with the stats being setup in a similar fashion to FM and being able to choose from the super league or NRL. Mainly people in the UK and Australia/New Zeland will purchase it but isnt that all that counts....

[JazzX]

Darts or Snooker Manager, if you are going to have an F1 Manager

Haha - snooker manager.

With text commentary

"He lines up the shot"

"... and puts it into row Z"

"He heads straight for the dressing room"

"He knows he's had a bad game"

[JazzX]

My idea is REFEREE MANAGER

You would play the role of a ref, you basically watch an FM2010 game and make all the refereeing decisions.

If you're good enough, you get refereeing the World Cup Final - if not, you end up being linesman in a Sunday pub game.

[leagle]

Horse Racing Manager, been done before but the SI treatment could make it a great game. Flat and jumps, training, breeding. International appeal.

[Ezequiel_Lavezzi]

Id hate to play Cricket Manager on Full Match Mode.

Why are people wanting SI to make Hockey? I thought there already was one out.

[chob]

I dont think any other sport (in the UK anyway) would be big enough to attract a good following for a management game (except maybe rugby).

Plus it would give SI another game to work on which would mean less time spent on making FM.

[Ezequiel_Lavezzi]

Just a post to answer my own question.

Just found out that SI do not make the EHM anymore.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/piracy-forces-sports-interactive-to-close-hockey-sim

Hope that never happens to FM.

[tdpats12]

I would love a SI basketball management game. Starting with the NBA and slowly expanding to include leagues worldwide... I don't think it would be quite as successful as FM, but done right would have at least one very strong market (US).

If they really wanted to grab the American market the game would have to include college basketball - in addition to the NBA - at a minimum.

College basketball is arguably more popular than the NBA here. March Madness is the sporting event of the year, every year. I'd go as far as to say it's the second best competition in the world, behind the World Cup and just ahead of the Champions League. Many won't agree, but it should show you how highly regarded the tournament and college basketball is regarded over here.

[Elmo]

I think SI have this correct when they feel that football should be solely concentrated upon.

[billamangiro]

What I really want to see is some kind of Gaelic Football management sim. Theres been a hurling one made called 'bainisteoir hurling' by Tailteann Games which is apparently quite good, but its a football one that would really interest me. Does anyone know if theres one floating about anywhere (like some kinda freeware or something)? Also, anyones aware of a download link for bainisteoir then that would be fantastic (cant seem to find one anywhere when i look!)