SeoulYank

Thanks for the detailed response, it is appreciated. Quite often when women's soccer is the topic, the responses are neanderthal in nature. Believe me, if I had the slightest ability to develop games (I don't) I'd do it myself. Nowhere near the level of FM, of course, because you definitely could not make money doing that. The difference here is you already have an established game and framework to piggyback off of. What I'd tell you in response is 15,000 units would be easy. I could pre-sell that many in the US alone. 50,000? I won't say easy, but I don't think it is out of the question worldwide. 100,000 wouldn't be out of the question worldwide. In any event, as I stated before, I don't expect this to happen this year or next. However, I think it is worth looking into in a detailed fashion. I think it would be a positive move, it would bring new fans to the game and it would be good PR for the company as well, just as Lewes FC got incredible PR worldwide recently for an absolutely meaningless (and that level of the pyramid) public statement that they'd pay their women's team the same as the men's team (so they are both getting paid next to nothing).

Once upon a time, you had to establish trusted researchers for those leagues despite the fact that adding them wasn't likely to add much in the way of consumers. Adding the women's game would do much more to bring in new buyers than those leagues did. Nobody is saying do it for FM 18, but if you're to do it then at some point the groundwork has to be laid, Right now, tbh, SI Game's refusal to look seriously at it looks a lot more like uneducated bias against women's football than a decision based on detailed analysis. As for the specifics of the issues you raise, if you were to add women's football to the game, you'd probably want to start at a minimum with: England - FA-WSL 1 France: Ligue 1 Germany: Frau Bundesliga Sweden: Damallsvenken 1 Spain: Primera Division Australia: W-League USA: NWSL There are others you could run with, but that gets you the big hitters. That's something like 80 teams, ~2000 players. Add in another ~500 players from leading national teams or leagues not in the game. I could get you excellent researchers for all of those leagues in a few days and, tbh, in the women's football world they'd be willing to do it for free to get the leagues into the game. Transfer module: framework is there already. NWSL works similar to MLS, other leagues work same as men's leagues. Would need to adjust for the fact that transfer fees are rare and much smaller than the men's game at the moment. Most moves are free transfers when contracts expire. The challenge that would need to be addressed is seasonal movement of players - for example, a lot of NWSL players go to play in W-League after the NWSL season and vice versa. Basically loans. Match engine: apart from 3D players looking like women and not men, what needs to change? It is the same game. I suppose there is one consideration - do you rate relative to men to ensure game is slower, etc. (same way you do now to where the play is vastly different if you are running an Premier League team versus a Conference side) or do you do like EA and rate the women against each other rather than against the men, in which case you would need to modify the match engine I suppose in order to reflect a slower less physical style of play and capture the differences between the leagues (e.g. NWSL being the fastest/most physical league in the women's world while European leagues being slower but more technical).

They've said that, as someone who works in the women's soccer space and sees women's soccer fan spending behavior, I think they are dead wrong. I would generate more revenue than having leagues like K-League 2, the Indonesian leagues and countless other leagues in the game does.

I think you grossly underestimate the rabid nature of women's soccer fans. Having covered the sport as media and having relationships with people in the merchandising space in women's soccer, I have decent insight here. The women's soccer fanbase may be significantly smaller than men's soccer, but they spend more money per person and display far greater brand loyalty. There's a reason EA put women's teams in FIFA. I know a lot of people that did not previously own console's that went out and bought PS or Xbox strictly so they could buy FIFA, and that's without even getting clubs. I can say for me, can't tell you the last time I bought FM, I'd buy it the day it went on sale if women's leagues were in the game.

If you find a player 23 years old or younger that you want, you can sign that player to a DP contract (aka a Young DP) contract without buying that extra DP spot. Young DP's don't require a purchased DP slot.

More so than the penalty conversion rate - I missed one yesterday, only about the 3rd or 4th I've missed in 8 seasons - is the number of penalties since the patch. I've played nearly a fully season since the patch and I cannot remember the last time I had a game without a penalty being called. It's become very noticeable.

Since the patch? I rarely saw a penalty missed well before the patch.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, injuries remain normal for me and I haven't lost a game since the patch. When things go against you, it is not always SI's fault believe it or not.

You can qualify either way. Same as US teams - qualify through US Open Cup or through the league.

My advice? You're the manager, don't worry about the club finances, that is the job of the Board. They give you a wage budget and maybe some transfer budget, then use it.

MLS rules are complex, to say the least. In any case, I'm guessing it is the transfer fee as Max noted. The "salary cap" is kind of a misnomer, it is really a budget cap on all player spending including transfer fees. A real life example I always mention is Alex Lopez of the Houston Dynamo. His salary is only $110k, however transfer fee was $1 million which pushed the cap hit above the DP threshold, consequently he occupies a DP spot on the roster as a young DP. In real life you could use allocation money to buy down the cap hit below the DP level (New York Red Bulls have done this with Sacha Klejstan; he won't be a DP in 2015 because they bought down his cap hit). That ability is not implemented in FM yet, though. If not a transfer fee issue, look at your actual salary budget versus your spending on your finances page. Because of the high cost of a couple of my DPs, my board won't let me sign anybody. I'm under the MLS cap but over my team's budget.

Presumably it gets offered to you in between seasons at some point. I've had 2 DP's plus a young DP each season, though, so have not been in a position to find out as of yet.

No, DP slots are not tradeable. With good reason, MLS roster rules are generally misunderstood (they aren't exactly transparent) but where it comes to how many slots you can have or whether they are tradeable or not, it is pretty clear. Teams are allowed 2 DP slots. They can buy a 3rd. However, teams are allowed to use a 3rd DP spot on a young player (young DP) without having to buy a 3rd. This is what is happening with the OP. From the MLS roster rules: Each club has two Designated Player slots and clubs are allowed to “purchase” a third Designated Player slot for a one-time fee of $150,000 that will be dispersed in the form of allocation money to all clubs that do not have three Designated Players. Clubs will not have to buy the third DP roster slot to accommodate Designated Players 23 years old and younger. Designated Player slots are not tradable.

Had a player who was away with the USA U-20s for most of the first part of the season and unavailable for selection. He complained about lack of playing time (while he was away on national team duty, no less).

It is not a difficult concept to understand. This is a company with one product, not a company that derives revenue from multiple products. If they skipped to releasing every other year, then they would either: a) have to reduce staff, b) diversify into other games. Either way, the impact is not the one you are hoping for. Lower resources or resources that are focused on other products does not translate into more time focused on FM and more/smoother developments between versions.