The latest installment of the Football Manager game series, Football Manager 2024, is set to be released. This marks the 20th edition of the game, starting from the first edition, Football Manager 2005, which was released in 2004. It is worth noting that the franchise was originally known as Championship Manager before Sports Interactive separated from Eidos.
To celebrate the 20th installment, the BBC had the opportunity to interview the team behind the game, including Miles Jacobson, the father of the series as he was the creator of the first Championship Manager game. Jacobson revealed that the genesis of the series stemmed from his desire to create a game that he could play on his own. However, he soon discovered that there were millions of others who wanted to play a similar game. Due to the high price tag of games at that time (around £40-£50 per game), his idea was to create a game that provided maximum value to the fans, ensuring that the game was worth the money they paid for it.
One of the new features in FM24 is the ability to import saved games from FM23 and continue playing seamlessly. Jacobson mentioned that this was the most requested feature by the game’s fans. This feature has been utilized by 25% of the players who pre-ordered the new installment and were granted access to play it early.
Another new addition in this installment is the absence of motion capture for player animations. Instead, the company employed a novel technology called motion matching, which directly translates real-life player movements and data from actual football matches into the game. This has resulted in more realistic animations, as the motion capture in traditional studios could not replicate the high-speed actions from real matches.
Lastly, Sports Interactive announced that the next edition of the game will include women’s football leagues, acknowledging that this should have been done a long time ago (considering that EA FIFA has included women’s leagues since 2015). However, they faced challenges due to the limited availability of data on women footballers compared to male players.
TLDR: The highly anticipated Football Manager 2024 is the 20th installment in the franchise. Creator Miles Jacobson aimed to create a game that provided maximum value to players amidst high game prices. New features include the ability to import saved games, improved player animations using motion matching technology, and the inclusion of women’s football leagues in the next edition.
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