Sports Interactive

Sports Interactive Ltd.
Subsidiary
Industry Video game industry Football
Founded 1994 (1994)
Founder Paul Collyer
Oliver Collyer
MBEs
Headquarters Islington, London, United Kingdom
Products Football Manager series
Championship Manager series
NHL Eastside Hockey Manager series
Owner Sega Sammy Holdings
Number of employees
 +100 [1]
Parent Sega Games Co., Ltd.
Website sigames.com

Sports Interactive Ltd. is a British video game development company, who is best known for the Football Manager series. Based in Old Street, Central London, the studio is wholly owned by the Japanese video game company, Sega. In addition to its work on Football Manager, the studio has also created a number of other sports management simulations including NHL Eastside Hockey Manager and Championship Manager Quiz, and is the former developer of Championship Manager.

History

Founded by Paul Collyer and Oliver Collyer, the company is commonly abbreviated to "SI" amongst fans of their games.

In 2003, Sports Interactive split with former publisher Eidos Interactive, and signed a deal with Sega, to continue their flagship sports franchise under the new name, Football Manager. After the split, both parties kept their intellectual property. Sports Interactive kept the base code, the game database and programming of the game, whilst Eidos kept the rights to the Championship Manager franchise.

On Thursday, 28 June 2012, Miles Jacobson and Ian Livingstone revealed why they split from Eidos Interactive and joined Sega. In a fireside chat with GameHorizon, Jacobson thought that Beautiful Game Studios was brought in to take over Championship Manager, whilst Livingstone thought that Eidos Interactive brought Beautiful Game Studios to protect the firm in case Sports Interactive jumped ship. Miles Jacobson commented saying “I’m sure there are two sides to this story, at the time we felt there was a lack of respect that we did for our work from Eidos. There seemed to be an attitude at the time in the industry that anyone could make games”. Miles Jacobson continued by saying “Eidos wanted more control. We wanted more control. We were asking for high royalties. Eidos set up Beautiful Game Studios nine months before Championship Manager 4 was due to come out. They told me that BGS were making a platform game. I thought our number was up.”[2]

He then further elaborated by saying, “I went for a curry with the CEO of Sega in Japan and Europe and he made me an offer on a napkin, I kept telling them we were not for sale. I told them they would have to double the offer for me to even discuss it with Paul and Oliver Collyer.”[3]

On April 4, 2006 it was announced that Sega Holdings Europe Ltd, holding company for Sports Interactive's publishers Sega, had acquired Sports Interactive.

AFC Wimbledon & Watford sponsorship

Sports Interactive has had a relationship with AFC Wimbledon since the club's formation: Championship Manager 01-02 contains a pro-AFC Wimbledon message occasionally visible at start-up (along with a similarly rare but now rather dated "Save Chip!" message), and they are currently AFC Wimbledon's main sponsors, with their logo appearing on the team strip. A similar deal now exists with Watford FC.

In 2004, Sports Interactive announced a deal to help develop Markus Heinsohn's Out of the Park Baseball.[4]

Games

Accolades

In 2010 co-founders of Sports Interactive Paul Collyer and Oliver Collyer were appointed as Members of the Order of the British Empire for their services to the computer game industry.

In 2011 Studio Director of Sports Interactive Miles Jacobson was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire again for service to the computer game industry.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.sigames.com/the-studio
  2. ↑ Nunneley, Stephany (28 June 2012). "Sports Interactive details split from Eidos after nine years of silence". vg247. Edge Magazine. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  3. ↑ Nunneley, Stephany (28 June 2012). "Sports Interactive details split from Eidos after nine years of silence". vg247. Edge Magazine. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  4. ↑ Out of the Park Baseball
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