The football management genre is massive in the United Kingdom (and also Germany, as I understand), and when the subject is brought up, your mind will likely shoot to the similarly named Football Manager series. It should do, because EA’s attempt to dent the market has been running for 12 years, and is yet to offer a supreme alternative in what can’t even be considered a two-horse race.
EA have now conceded that point, and FIFA Manager will be bowing out gracefully after it’s latest installment.
You’d be forgiven for not being heartbroken – Football Manager has been running the show for a while now. Being owned by Electronic Arts may mean better licensing options, but also means no appearances on Steam. Instead, like their other titles, you’ll have to download their own client, Origin, and use that instead. A crop of bad experiences has led me to disown Origin almost completely, but even without my bias, downloading a separate client is a ball-ache. Especially when you’re getting pulled out of games to verify user agreements, but maybe that’s just me.
Lead Designer Gerald Köhler hopes that the loyal fan community they have amassed over the past decade will carry on their work wherever possible, but formally the game will receive no further releases.
He also quoted the various managers that have been on the front cover of the game, including Joachim Löw and José Mourinho. Despite all the prominent figures who have been involved with the game, it would appear EA have not been able to further their football stranglehold to the very niche, though very dominated, football management genre.
graemefinch.com 