The next iteration of the Football Manager series from SI Games is going to be released on Steam on 14th November for $49.99. For the first time ever Football Manager will be utilising Steamworks, the publisher and developer tools that allow games to plug into the Steam service. Steamworks will be present in both the retail and Steam versions of the game, and more importantly those with the retail version will be able to register their copy of the game on Steam to fully utilise the Steam experience.
Miles Jacobson, the studio director at Sports Interactive had this to say regarding the announcement:
“Many of us at Sports Interactive have been big fans of Steam since it’s inception, so to be working with them properly this year across releases of Football Manager on the PC is fantastic. It gives us the opportunity for all of our games players to get any patches or updates that we make available quickly and easily, as well as a place for us to host any other downloads, such as demos and promotional videos, with super fast broadband speeds for download, and no issues with bandwidth, which we are hit with each time we release a demo”.
The demo for Football Manager 2009 will be made available via Steam a few weeks before the release of the game. You can pre-order the game on Steam now which will allow you to pre-load the game 48 hours before the game is unlocked at 9.00 GMT on the 14th November. Further information regarding pre-orders can be found here.
If I am not mistaken, this will be one of the first non-Valve games which will let you register your retail version on Steam. I believe this happened with Prey, but I don’t think this has happened since. This means that if you want to get the retail game and not use Steam you can, however if you want a boxed copy and the chance to use Steam that is also possible. This is one of the best ways to release Football Manager and it puts the game in front of a massive target audience and represents a great way to further boos sales of what is destined to be a great game.
Press Release:
FOOTBALL MANAGER TEAMS UP WITH STEAM
Football ManagerT 2009 Leverage Suite of Steamworks Services for Retail and Electronic Versions
LONDON (9th October, 2008) - Sports Interactive & SEGA Europe Ltd. today announce that the PC versions of Football ManagerT 2009 will incorporate Steamworks, a complete suite of publishing and development tools that offers PC game developers and publishers access to the game features and services available through Steam. Steamworks will support both the retail and electronic versions of the Football Manager 2009 games giving players game updates, downloadable content, and patches. Also, players will be able to play from any PC in the world without needing their DVD copy of the game. STEAM will also host and distribute the Football Manager 2009 game demo which will be available when it is released a couple of weeks before the release of the full game. Football Manager 2009 is now available for pre-purchase as a PC digital download from STEAM, and will be available for players to play at 09:00 GMT on the 14th November 2008. For details on availability and pricing, please visit www.footballmanager.com/buynow. “Many of us at Sports Interactive have been big fans of Steam since it’s inception, so to be working with them properly this year across releases of Football Manager on the PC is fantastic” said Miles Jacobson, studio director at Sports Interactive. “It gives us the opportunity for all of our games players to get any patches or updates that we make available quickly and easily, as well as a place for us to host any other downloads, such as demos and promotional videos, with super fast broadband speeds for download, and no issues with bandwidth, which we are hit with each time we release a demo”. “The Football Manager 2009 team has an incredible plan to extend the product beyond launch and achieve a level of connectivity with FM 2009 players that surpasses any prior release in the category,” said Gabe Newell, president of Valve. “We’re delighted to have Steamworks selected as the vehicle to help take this legendary franchise to the next level and look forward to offering the game to the millions logging onto Steam each week.” Football Manager 2009 features a vast array of all new features including, for the first time ever, a full 3D view of the world famous Football ManagerT match engine.
For further information on Football Manager 2009 please visit www.sigames.com or www.footballmanager.com. For assets on Football Manager 2009 or other SEGA games please go to www.sega-press.com.
About SEGA Europe Ltd.: SEGA® Europe Ltd. is the European Distribution arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA Corporation, and a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. SEGA Europe’s web site is located at www.sega-europe.com.
About Sports Interactive Ltd.: Sports Interactive (SI), is the world’s leading developer of football management simulations through it’s Football Manager series of games Founded in 1994 and based in the Old Street area of London, SI has a full-time staff of 44 and employs services of more than 1,500 part-time researchers across the globe. The company’s games have enjoyed an unparalleled history of commercial and critical success, with nine of its creations among the UK’s Top 20 fastest-selling PC games of all time, and 4 in the UK’s top 20 best selling PC games of all time. Sports Interactive became a wholly owned subsidiary of SEGA in 2006. Further information on the company and its games is available from the SI website, www.sigames.com.
About Steam: The leading online platform for PC games and digital entertainment, Steam delivers new releases and online services to over 15 million PC users around the world. For more information, please visit www.steamgames.com
via Chris Evans @ EVO gamer
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