German licensing

[Spurs08]

Some intriguing tweets from Miles this morning. Firstly, the good news that SEGA (Football Manager's publishers) have won the rights to the Bundesliga for 4 years starting in the 2018-19 season, which will hopefully mean the end of fake players in the German national team and real logos, player faces etc in the German leagues.

 

However, when asked about FM18, he promised info in mid-August - about "plans pre-#FM19". That seems like a very odd phrasing considering he was happy to specifically confirm everything from FM19 to FM22 - is it possible that they're taking a year off to create a more polished product and potentially move the release window to a more desirable spot in the summer rather than November?

 

[j4y_z]

Well, just think logically. The license is starting from the 18/19 season. FM18 does not cover that season, it covers the 17/18 season. So FM18 will not have the license yet. 

Thats all. Don't know what makes you think there won't be a FM18. 

At least, that's my understanding of what's going on. 

[Cougar2010]

10 minutes ago, Spurs08 said:

Some intriguing tweets from Miles this morning. Firstly, the good news that SEGA (Football Manager's publishers) have won the rights to the Bundesliga for 4 years starting in the 2018-19 season, which will hopefully mean the end of fake players in the German national team and real logos, player faces etc in the German leagues.

Thats great news in general although probably make that much difference to regular users who are used to it/work around it.

 

10 minutes ago, Spurs08 said:

 

However, when asked about FM18, he promised info in mid-August - about "plans pre-#FM19". That seems like a very odd phrasing considering he was happy to specifically confirm everything from FM19 to FM22 - is it possible that they're taking a year off to create a more polished product and potentially move the release window to a more desirable spot in the summer rather than November?

Could just be Miles being Miles and letting you read too much into it.

Year off with a some sort of data update? Not impossible but I would think extremely unlikely.

Change in release date? Been talked about in the past but thats about it.  It takes about six weeks from close of the summer transfer window to release and that is unlikely to change so any change in release date would still need those six weeks.  If squads were set @ 30th June then release would still be middle of August at the soonest.  Having players at teams on 30th June might also go against some licence agreements for players that move in the summer/pre-season and you would need a data update released in Sep which would only be a 2/3 weeks after game release, seems unlikely.

The other thing that gets mentioned is that lighter nights = more people outside = less people playing games indoors which is why a lot of companies aim for a Sep-Nov release as nights get longer and people spend more time indoors.

[craiigman]

Good news all round, even if it's from FM19, saves having to download a fix.

[Guest]

Hopefully the rights also include the DFL, would hate to possibly lose the 3rd tier to get licensed Bundesliga/2.Bundesliga.

[andu1]

I don't understand why do you think SI will not have a FM 18 just because they've obtained the German licensing.

 

Chances are 99,99% there will be a FM 18 just because that license didn't come for free.

[Guest]

Miles is being Miles with his deliberately vague answers on FM18, wish he'd stop it as his does his & by association SI's public image harm.

BTW, very pleased that SI have managed to secure the rights, the level of interest in this genre is massive in Germany & it's about time that (personal opinion) the best national research team get official exposure in their own country.

[andu1]

SI should hire a marketing or community manager with experience.  I've found some of his tweets to be aggresive which can push people away from the game. I get it's lot of trolling and negativity in every social media outlet but it shows that marketing is not one of his main strenghts.

[forameuss]

6 minutes ago, Barside said:

Miles is being Miles

This.  Very much so.  And it's brilliant.  Somehow people still don't "get" him for not being a normal company spokesman.  

FM18 is very likely to arrive just when everything expects it to.  But until it's announced, then it doesn't exist.  Doesn't matter that SI have likely been working on it for months, there's still the possibility - however small - that it doesn't get released.

[forameuss]

1 minute ago, andu1 said:

SI should hire a marketing or community manager with experience.  I've found some of his tweets to be aggresive which can push people away from the game. I get it's lot of trolling and negativity in every social media outlet but it shows that marketing is not one of his main strenghts.

Depends on your viewpoint.  I've only seen him be confrontational with those that are confrontational with him.  Is that bad?  Perhaps, but I think it's great.  More people should be faced with the realization that they can't just sling muck at anyone with little recourse.  

With those that are civil with him, and in their actual marketing campaigns (Miles' twitter is hardly the only source) he's fine (although he did seem a bit more wooden in the FM17 video than he did in previous ones).

[andu1]

Just now, forameuss said:

Depends on your viewpoint.  I've only seen him be confrontational with those that are confrontational with him.  Is that bad?  Perhaps, but I think it's great.  More people should be faced with the realization that they can't just sling muck at anyone with little recourse.  

With those that are civil with him, and in their actual marketing campaigns (Miles' twitter is hardly the only source) he's fine (although he did seem a bit more wooden in the FM17 video than he did in previous ones).

But wouldn't be better for the game if his focus was solely on his role of  game director ? A company like SI can afford a competent Community manager , i mean they had 500k+ sales with every game in the last 5 years.

 

But who knows, maybe he likes doing these community interactions. Wouldn't hurt him to work with someone with experience though.

[FrazT]

No confusion there IMO-

German license from FM 19 for 4 years

Info on pre -FM 19 game in August

[Svenc]

1 hour ago, Barside said:

Hopefully the rights also include the DFL, would hate to possibly lose the 3rd tier to get licensed Bundesliga/2.Bundesliga.

The DFL licenses actually cover the 1+2. Bundesliga. Everything down below is DFB  territory (including the Cup, actually). EA has just aquired the latter to include them into Fifa for the first time, so for the first time, you'll be able to play officially German Cup games in there, plus take over a Dritte Liga side. Additionally, Fifa Manager had to fake all the staff member names at any club (curioiusly oft even that of the German version celebrity manager Testimonial), as with their rights, well in Germoney that's a different thing altogether. Will be curious how they handle this, given that it was announced they're aiming for a re-release on German soils from FM 2019 onwards.

Makes complete sense, as this has been traditionally the second biggest market world-wide for this -- even considering that foreign, in particular British-made games had a steep entry hurdle to overcome in several ways. For a start, most popular German-made management games went that "Total Club Management" route in terms of design, and in terms of tonality oft were off a more colorful, light-hearted kind. Sometimes on purpose trying to catch the more silly sides of football (ref rigging, wags, ca$h), whilst CM/FM has always been playing that simulation routine straight. German-made games were also feverishly favored by the home press, luke-warm dealings of former SI publishers didn't much help (slap Hitzfeld's face on the box cover and off you go! ) Still Fifa Man was canned al years ago, shipping approx 150k-250k units a year in Germany until the last, and since then there was no sign of any German dev / publisher even trying, in parts because management games are complex beasts for finite gain, but also likely in parts due to the licensing situation -- the international markets are already taken by competition that has decades of a head start. This likely wasn't that cheap a deal, though I'm glad this game will see a German release proper again.

[forameuss]

5 minutes ago, andu1 said:

But wouldn't be better for the game if his focus was solely on his role of  game director ? A company like SI can afford a competent Community manager , i mean they had 500k+ sales with every game in the last 5 years.

But who knows, maybe he likes doing these community interactions. Wouldn't hurt him to work with someone with experience though.

Careful, sounding like you're describing him as "incompetent" there.  You also mention how successful they are with sales - seems like their marketing is doing alright in that sense.

It's personal preference though.  Plenty of people will get rubbed up the wrong way by Miles, fair enough.  If he was being like that with everyone, then absolutely he shouldn't be.  But he sticks to those that throw it at him, which in my book is 100% fine and should be encouraged.  It's far, far better to have someone like him who actually seems human, then either a bot-like presence that just writes out platitudes, or one of those dreadful, dreadful social media managers who try to personalise their brand and spend all their days getting roundly abused with just an "I'm sorry to hear that" in their holster for reply.

[andu1]

8 minutes ago, forameuss said:

Careful, sounding like you're describing him as "incompetent" there.  You also mention how successful they are with sales - seems like their marketing is doing alright in that sense.

It's personal preference though.  Plenty of people will get rubbed up the wrong way by Miles, fair enough.  If he was being like that with everyone, then absolutely he shouldn't be.  But he sticks to those that throw it at him, which in my book is 100% fine and should be encouraged.  It's far, far better to have someone like him who actually seems human, then either a bot-like presence that just writes out platitudes, or one of those dreadful, dreadful social media managers who try to personalise their brand and spend all their days getting roundly abused with just an "I'm sorry to hear that" in their holster for reply.

He is definetely not incompetent since he is running the best game there is for football management. I was saying that he could use his competence for what he does best instead of the i am director , i' m the best at everything type.

By the way, info on FM 18 in august? it's sooner than FM 17 so that's nice.

[Miles Jacobson]

27 minutes ago, andu1 said:

SI should hire a marketing or community manager with experience.  I've found some of his tweets to be aggresive which can push people away from the game. I get it's lot of trolling and negativity in every social media outlet but it shows that marketing is not one of his main strenghts.

Whereas I think it's horrible when someones personal account on social media is run by a third party.

If you want info about FM on Twitter, @footballmanager is the place to get it. That is run by a team of experienced professional social media marketeers. And we are advertising for someone to come in to that team at the moment as one of the current team is taking on a new role.

If someone wants to follow me, or ask me questions on Twitter, that's great. But then they have to deal with me, my personality and my rules (where are clearly posted in the header of my Twitter account). It is not meant to be a PR or marketing source for the game, but I'll gladly answer questions if I know the answer to them about any of the work that I do at SI, or elsewhere. But it is, very clearly, a personal account.

[Koetzer]

1 hour ago, craiigman said:

Good news all round, even if it's from FM19, saves having to download a fix.

Still would need it for Japan, Brazil and Jan Jansen (unless other good news appear  )

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Svenc said:

The DFL licenses actually cover the 1+2. Bundesliga. Everything down below is DFB  territory (including the Cup, actually).

Always get them mixed up, point still stands & I hope the DFL license does not create issues with DFB run competitons.

[andu1]

1 hour ago, Miles Jacobson said:

Whereas I think it's horrible when someones personal account on social media is run by a third party.

If you want info about FM on Twitter, @footballmanager is the place to get it. That is run by a team of experienced professional social media marketeers. And we are advertising for someone to come in to that team at the moment as one of the current team is taking on a new role.

If someone wants to follow me, or ask me questions on Twitter, that's great. But then they have to deal with me, my personality and my rules (where are clearly posted in the header of my Twitter account). It is not meant to be a PR or marketing source for the game, but I'll gladly answer questions if I know the answer to them about any of the work that I do at SI, or elsewhere. But it is, very clearly, a personal account.

Cheers Miles, obviously you know better how to run your company and aquiring the German license shows that the game has a nice future.

[Ceyvol]

3 hours ago, Spurs08 said:

which will hopefully mean the end of fake players in the German national team and real logos, player faces etc in the German leagues

I believe those two are different matters - but since german licensing is kinda tricky, it would be nice if someone from SI could confirm German national team future status.

[Neil Brock]

Just now, Ceyvol said:

I believe those two are different matters - but since german licensing is kinda tricky, it would be nice if someone from SI could confirm German national team future status.

All the information we have to announce so far is posted in the two Twitter posts at the start of the thread, any other details will come as stated in the time-frame above.  

Sorry for the cloak and dagger stuff, but sadly my hands are tied! 

[Ceyvol]

Well, that's... interesting! 

Guess I could be right and wrong at the same time  Cheers!

[santy001]

There's so many comparisons that could be drawn, but I imagine there must be a phenomenal amount of questions which just cannot be answered for practical reasons that just don't diminish in volume. It comes on two sides, it always feels a little strange that each FM title has very late in the day confirmation that it's actually coming. However, it's much better than Miles being regarded as "the Next Peter Molyneux" and it's always a balancing act. I still spend so much of my time longing for the Fable game Molyneux promised, and we're like 15 years down the line.

[qwerty22]

Great news

Keep up the good work !

[Black and Yellow]

Indeed, positive news as it is a fun league to play in. Hopefully it will result in the German national teams no longer requiring a fix and even being able to be managed by users! Will wait for the news with interest 

[YKW]

I'm delighted to be reading this news as it's basically a strong confirmation of FM19-FM22. I had been a bit worried recently as some of the publicly available information was painting a slightly grim picture of the future of SI, particularly in terms of the relationship with Sega. With some other significant changes appearing to happen behind the scenes I've been waiting to see what would happen next. This is brilliant news and I think it's a sign that the relationship has been reinvigorated and can be looked at as long term once again. This may have never been in doubt, but as far as information that is public it was a real concern for me. I also think that many of the comments made by people from Sega over the last few years indicate a possible change in philosophy on their part, particularly in terms of an increased focus on quality driven by more flexible development times. On that basis alone I think that FM18 being "skipped" somehow is a possibility, but my gut feeling is that it won't be the case.

 

23 hours ago, Miles Jacobson said:

Whereas I think it's horrible when someones personal account on social media is run by a third party.

If you want info about FM on Twitter, @footballmanager is the place to get it. That is run by a team of experienced professional social media marketeers. And we are advertising for someone to come in to that team at the moment as one of the current team is taking on a new role.

If someone wants to follow me, or ask me questions on Twitter, that's great. But then they have to deal with me, my personality and my rules (where are clearly posted in the header of my Twitter account). It is not meant to be a PR or marketing source for the game, but I'll gladly answer questions if I know the answer to them about any of the work that I do at SI, or elsewhere. But it is, very clearly, a personal account.

 

Hi Miles, thanks for taking your time to post on here and could I say congratulations on the deal to license the Bundesliga!

I want to respond to your post because I feel that there is are some extra perspectives that you are not considering fully. I believe that when it comes to the things that we type, say or do etc, we don't have the right to define how those things should be perceived by the people who see or hear them. This is why I personally think it is so important to take care to express yourself in a considered way and in a way that represents yourself accurately. Your twitter account may well be a "personal" account but it is also a PR and Marketing source for the game whether or not that's your intention and whether or not you tell people that it isn't. My history on here is testimony to my personality and values whether or not I tell you that my penchant for confrontation comes from playing up to a fictional character. It's not my choice to tell you how to perceive me as a result of my posts and it is not your choice to tell people how to perceive you based on the tweets that you make. Just because you don't want or intend your twitter feed to be a PR or Marketing source for the game doesn't change the fact that it is those things. You are the ONLY face of the game.

My point here is that despite the fact I don't know you personally I am fairly certain that you are not representing yourself accurately. You are head of the greatest games company in the world, you've met all kinds of legendary managers and players, you have an OBE, you are ambassador to charities that do great work, you are on the board of various other organizations, and you are generally revered among the fanbase as being the first and only prophet of FM. I wish I had even a fraction of those accolades. And yet despite all of these incredible and inspiring achievements you feel that the best advert for yourself is a set of a "rules" that read as though they were written to be a Big Brother audition tape.

I also feel that you underestimate or haven't consciously accepted your role in terms of your relationship with the game and the fans. You are the sole individual who satisfies our excitement for news about the game. You are the one who decides what happens with the game, and which of our prayers will be answered. You are almighty and have been so for almost 20 years. We are the faithful masses waiting for you to utter a single word in our direction so that we can have yet more reason to rejoice.

"Oh Lord, my head has become weary in the face of such adversity. My faith in you is all that keeps me going through these dark times. I know it's unlikely, but I would love even the smallest sign that you are listening."

"Go and live in another Universe then."

I am of course referencing the Reddit AMA which I don't want to linger on because I appreciated you addressing it on the Deep Lying Podcast. Instead of scrutinising the comments I really just want to expand on the perspective that has been touched on already in terms of the impact of things like this on SI as a whole.

I have always strongly disagreed and will continue to strongly disagree with any assertion that SI are or have become "complacent," which is an idea that comes up from time to time. I don't think that issues relating to bugs are compelling evidence of complacency, and I feel the more credible issue is one of a lack of competition for the game. In this respect we don't have any evidence of the working practices of SI and so we can't say whether there is any effect here. I personally believe not. However, I don't expect there are many Black Cab drivers who are telling customers to "go and get an Uber instead," and so for me personally that comment and others like it have to be looked at as a main source of people's concerns.

I don't use Social Media at all and so your twitter account is one of the few that I actually read. All I'm looking for is an excuse to be excited about the game but I often come away feeling the exact opposite. Having had a quick scroll through I have found an example for you from earlier this month. One guy asked you if there was a way of increasing the odds of having a son come through, and this was your reply:

 

 

Personally I find this really dismaying. Why would you so conclusively rule out something that would bring enjoyment to people which also relatively speaking is one of the simpler changes that could be made? I find this frustrating, again from a personal perspective, as throughout my years here I've been unable to figure out if posting in the Feature Request Forum is worth it or if it is actually just a waste of time. I would have been excited even if the answer was just "maybe." But why not just tell them to post it in the feature request forum?

Perhaps you aren't serious but it really isn't clear. I would be happy to take it as a joke but I feel there is more truth in it than perhaps would be best. Additional evidence in favour of that would be that the most recent employee review of SI that is available states: "Direction of the game isn't democratic. Everyone gets a vote in feature meetings but ideas are only considered great if the studio director thinks so."

To sum up, I don't think that people have issues "dealing with you, your personality and your rules," as you imply. Speaking for myself I know that my frustrations come from the implications of what you say rather than what you've said or how you've said it (which we could all improve at.)

I don't have any feelings on your policy of being rude/nice to those who are rude/nice to you but I feel it isn't an appropriate advertisement for yourself because it implies that your rules mean more to you than your genuinely impressive achievements and noble charitable causes. The rules could remain your policy just as effectively without the need to state it as a main feature of your page.

I don't have any feelings on your style of interacting with people or your personality as it comes across, but I don't like the implications of the content of your statements in terms of how it reflects on what you must believe. That could be in the form of implying that losing a customer isn't important to SI, or in the form of implying that the only opinion about the game which counts is your own, both of which are specific examples.

As a final and light-hearted point I could suggest that you don't take your rules as seriously as you say because I rapped to you and you didn't rap back. (FYI I had contemplated a follow up to "Stan Stan" but I could only get as far as "If you didn't wanna talk to me about the concept you didn't have to," before it all fell to pieces while I was trying to shoehorn in a line about verse 7:7 of Matthew.)

I hope I have expressed my perspective well and in a way which is true to the respect and appreciation we all have for you. Please reconsider your stance on son generation, thanks a lot.

P.S. We should stream together too.

[westy8chimp]

@YKW

Miles could be Hitler reincarnate and I'd still buy FM, and what's more he knows that to be the case of most FMers due to lack of competition.

I couldn't care less if he offends a few busy bodies on social media... I don't use it. But it sounds far more interesting than reading some robotic PR talk.

He's addressed the point clearly... if you want the official line, then use the company feedback. If you want his arrogant, sarcy views then follow him.

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Black and Yellow said:

Indeed, positive news as it is a fun league to play in. Hopefully it will result in the German national teams no longer requiring a fix and even being able to be managed by users! Will wait for the news with interest 

@Svenc can confirm but I'm pretty sure the national team would require a DFB license & so far we only know of SI agreeing a deal with the DFL.

[london boy]

Great news!  Looking forward to hear more about it.

[Miles Jacobson]

@ykw - as I stated above, the @footballmanager account is the place to get news on the game, not my account. I can't do anything about other people deciding that my account should be the one used, in the same way as I can't do anything to stop other misconceptions made about us or me (such as the info you write about SEGA and our relationship, or one of the comments from Westy which made me laugh), or things taken out of context, such as the tweet you post which was an ending point of a very long conversation, or reading reviews from Glassdoor from ex-employees (or, in that case, someone who wasn't an employee at all but a contractor and suggested some features that were legally, commercially & morally irresponsible, so were rejected) isn't the best way to get info either. Although I should point out that as the games director, of course a feature isn't going to make it into the game if I don't think it's a good idea, otherwise I wouldn't be doing my job as a director!

If you want to get excited about our future games, then wait for official info to come out and see if that makes you excited. Don't read all the other nonsense out there because, until things are officially announced, it's most likely that the things you hear or read are not true. I know that's not easy - I've had many TV shows & games that I've been incredibly passionate about and read everything that I can, including lots of false info, but learnt quickly to not get wound up about it. Or not until it was official (like the awful ending of Lost after 7 years worth of fanboyism from me).

As for in-game sons, if you want my stance to change on in-game son's, then instructions have already been given on how to do that  I, and many who replied, thought that tweet was amusing. It was certainly tongue in cheek - but is also an accurate way to make it happen. Good luck with the 99% bit though - it's something that's been discussed in the studio in the past, as we do with all suggestions that come from the forums, and rejected because we think it would be the wrong thing to do. It's meant to be very rare, as it's meant to be special. There are lots of things in our games like this and it's very deliberate given the very long average play-time of our titles. Posting suggestions is not a guarantee to get something into the game - it's a process for suggestions to get to us and be considered in our feature meetings where our own ideas are also considered. Some make it through, some don't. It's just as likely for one of my suggestions to be rejected as one from the forums. Such is life.

I'm not going to be untrue to myself or to others on social media - I will answer them in the same way as I would if someone asked me to my face. In both life, and on social media, I am honest and clear in my beliefs, and that rubs some people up the wrong way because they aren't used to either. It's also the same way of being that has helped me achieve the things that you mention - I've never cared what people think about me personally, as long as (in the case of people who play FM) they enjoy the work that we do as a team and get good value for money from it.

Right - back to lurking now or else I'll get told off by the mods and Brocky for treading on their toes. Play nicely everyone.

[YKW]

18 minutes ago, Miles Jacobson said:

@ykw - as I stated above, the @footballmanager account is the place to get news on the game, not my account. I can't do anything about other people deciding that my account should be the one used, in the same way as I can't do anything to stop other misconceptions made about us or me (such as the info you write about SEGA and our relationship, or one of the comments from Westy which made me laugh), or things taken out of context, such as the tweet you post which was an ending point of a very long conversation, or reading reviews from Glassdoor from ex-employees (or, in that case, someone who wasn't an employee at all but a contractor and suggested some features that were legally, commercially & morally irresponsible, so were rejected) isn't the best way to get info either. Although I should point out that as the games director, of course a feature isn't going to make it into the game if I don't think it's a good idea, otherwise I wouldn't be doing my job as a director!

If you want to get excited about our future games, then wait for official info to come out and see if that makes you excited. Don't read all the other nonsense out there because, until things are officially announced, it's most likely that the things you hear or read are not true. I know that's not easy - I've had many TV shows & games that I've been incredibly passionate about and read everything that I can, including lots of false info, but learnt quickly to not get wound up about it. Or not until it was official (like the awful ending of Lost after 7 years worth of fanboyism from me).

As for in-game sons, if you want my stance to change on in-game son's, then instructions have already been given on how to do that  I, and many who replied, thought that tweet was amusing. It was certainly tongue in cheek - but is also an accurate way to make it happen. Good luck with the 99% bit though - it's something that's been discussed in the studio in the past, as we do with all suggestions that come from the forums, and rejected because we think it would be the wrong thing to do. It's meant to be very rare, as it's meant to be special. There are lots of things in our games like this and it's very deliberate given the very long average play-time of our titles. Posting suggestions is not a guarantee to get something into the game - it's a process for suggestions to get to us and be considered in our feature meetings where our own ideas are also considered. Some make it through, some don't. It's just as likely for one of my suggestions to be rejected as one from the forums. Such is life.

I'm not going to be untrue to myself or to others on social media - I will answer them in the same way as I would if someone asked me to my face. In both life, and on social media, I am honest and clear in my beliefs, and that rubs some people up the wrong way because they aren't used to either. It's also the same way of being that has helped me achieve the things that you mention - I've never cared what people think about me personally, as long as (in the case of people who play FM) they enjoy the work that we do as a team and get good value for money from it.

Right - back to lurking now or else I'll get told off by the mods and Brocky for treading on their toes. Play nicely everyone.

Wow thanks so much for your response Miles, I appreciate it. I'm not making any comment about your personality or anything like that, and you have never "rubbed me up the wrong way" so to speak. My point is about the implications of what you say in a context that goes beyond yourself. The fact that you would be the same in person and on twitter is fine and besides the point, as my reservations would remain in either case. If you feel that you value each and every fan and also value their opinion about how they enjoy the game then it is in that context which you aren't being true to yourself, because in my opinion you can come across as not caring about each fan and not caring how the fans each like to enjoy the game.

Your style of communication and personal views etc are none of my business and I am not questioning them in the slightest.

As far as getting information I think that SI's accounts, Sega's Press releases, Glassdoor and the twitter account of the Studio director are the best sources available to me, and I certainly don't rely on twitter or random blogs to come to my conclusions. In this respect I don't think I have read any false information, so I obviously just have a problem with my interpretation. Clearly you would know the real details, and I accept that.

I'm not going to say too much about the criteria you've laid out for increasing the chances of son generation because I think they are ludicrous. But I loved LOST and so I'll briefly address the point by continuing with that analogy. Right now I am Locke, banging on the hatch hoping that the island will give me a sign about what I have to do to serve it. All of a sudden the hatch light bursts out into the night sky. Silly man of faith. I will say this now: If I spend a decade becoming "brilliant" at c++ and then manage to convince 99% of the studio to make sons more likely, only for you to say no anyway, then I will take the original quote slightly out of context and inspire a swarm of angry fans to bombard Steam with negative reviews and comments like "This isn't about having a son this is about respect!!!" 

In all seriousness this is my question: Is it the case that nobody could post an idea good enough in the Feature Request forum to make you consider increasing the chances of generating a son? If so, and I'm not being facetious here, but could this be added to the list of "forbidden ideas" in the sticky along with using manager wages and a Chairman mode? I recently posted an idea which included as one feature the ability to simply create a son.  Have I wasted my time there?

For me, and this also addressed to the 2% (or more) of SI who I know for sure are against this particular change, it's a question of whimsy. You don't take your whimsy anywhere near as seriously as you need to. Instead of fearfully clutching at what is probably the last remaining FM 'white whale' for so many people, why not embrace our apparent desires for fatherhood fully and in a way that surprises us? Yes there is the obvious possibility that we could have a son who would join our youth academy, like Maurizio Pochettino. But wouldn't it be great if we could also have a son who had got a degree and joined our club as a sports scientist, like Sebastiano Pochettino?

Why stop there? How about a daughter (or son) who becomes an agent or a reporter? And in the future, a manager? This isn't 1980's China, people have reasons to hope for daughters as well.

Having a son was "rare and special" ten years ago, now it's just an annoyingly impossible thing. Why not allow more customisable family relations for the manager with customisable skills and roles, allowing people to have their real friends and family floating around in the game, even if not as players? Have the "rare and special" events be moments like your mother speaking to the press in defense of your character, or your loudmouth brother getting in a fight with a journalist, or your daughter dating (and subsequently having a son with) your star player? I'm laughing as I write that last one, but I'm deadly serious.

Wanting a son is the wish of 20th century FM. Wanting your in game daughter to have a son with your star player is the wish of 21st century FM, and it should be even rarer than having a son is currently.

Where's the whimsy, Miles? Thanks a lot for your time.

[forameuss]

Miles setting up telt after telt.  Beautiful.

[Svenc]

 

17 hours ago, Barside said:

@Svenc can confirm but I'm pretty sure the national team would require a DFB license & so far we only know of SI agreeing a deal with the DFL.

'tis true, it is, two different thingamabobs. Hence PES has the national team available, but no Bundesliga. The positives I'd take from this is that the game probably won't be "plagued" by further gimmicks promoting Die Mannschaft™ and their officially Fan Club Nationalmannschaft (powered by Coca Cola), which to me are some of the more cringe-worthy campaigns in football -- and I've got a formally degree in marketing. Maybe Miles can play a few of his former contacts and get some decent tracks licensed instead -- some bloody good tunes as the Germans don't react all that well to their management games greeting them with sounds of silence either (and as can be heard here, anything goes, as long as it's not deafening silence!). I understand your possible concerns regarding the 3rd division too though. Still nothing custom dbs couldn't fix if it came to pass (unless of course things were starting to get hard-coded due to licensing reasons, and who's more strict on this than the Germans?)

[Guest]

That's my concern, local law in Germany is very strict on these matters & as such the contracts entered into tend to not leave much scope for allowing deviation from what has been agreed.

[LordFunk]

Great news!

 

The DFL (Deutsche Fussball Liga GmbH) license is only valid for the 1.Bundesliga und 2.Bundesliga. The DFB (Deutscher Fussballbund  e.V.) is holder of rights for the DFB Pokal (german cup), national team, 3.Liga and lower leagues.

 

So from the available sources my bet would be logos and faces from clubs/players of the 1. and 2.Bundesliga will be included in FM19. If you want the original names/logs of the national team, national cup and 3.Liga (or lower), you'll have to download/copy/paste/patch the database them on your own.

 

But maybe SI is on fire and will buy a DFB license too, if it's possible.

[Coulthard's Jaw]

On 7/19/2017 at 15:53, YKW said:

I'm delighted to be reading this news as it's basically a strong confirmation of FM19-FM22. I had been a bit worried recently as some of the publicly available information was painting a slightly grim picture of the future of SI, particularly in terms of the relationship with Sega. With some other significant changes appearing to happen behind the scenes I've been waiting to see what would happen next. This is brilliant news and I think it's a sign that the relationship has been reinvigorated and can be looked at as long term once again. This may have never been in doubt, but as far as information that is public it was a real concern for me. I also think that many of the comments made by people from Sega over the last few years indicate a possible change in philosophy on their part, particularly in terms of an increased focus on quality driven by more flexible development times. On that basis alone I think that FM18 being "skipped" somehow is a possibility, but my gut feeling is that it won't be the case.

Lets hope so. It's a tough environment out there for everyone in the gaming industry at the moment and SI aren't immune from that.

[GeofriFMITA]

It is by now a few editions that it feels the need for a profound renewal in the heart of the game. I hope it is fm19