“We used to look for fanzine writers, but now they tend to be bloggers. “We have a huge network of 1,300 scouts in 51 countries around the world,” said Sports Interactive director, Miles Jacobson. Some scouts watch a single team, others a whole league, and all remain in regular contact with the development studio while swapping tips and experiences on the company’s buzzing forums. To ensure authenticity, Sports Interactive has spent the last 22 years building its own network of “scouts”, dedicated Football Manager fans who attend real-life matches and training sessions, and then file detailed reports on players so that the game’s database is authentic. Just as flight sim fanatics want the virtual Cessna 172 to fly exactly like the real Cessna 172, FM managers want their version of Yeovil Town to look and play like Yeovil Town. 20m copies have been sold so far on PC, Mac, and smartphones, and most of the ardent fans are football obsessives who demand accuracy. Every aspect of the manager’s role from scouting new players, to training, tactics and even providing emotional support to players, is part of the experience. Originally named Championship Manager and first launched in 1992, the Football Manager series provides a painstakingly detailed simulation of club management. The big question of course, is how browsing a computer game can compete with having experienced staff sniffing out new talent? And the answer is, well, this is no ordinary computer game. “The Sports Interactive database is a highly accurate and valuable resource that will further enhance the recruitment services that we provide” “Prozone Recruiter has been built to supplement the intuition of scouts and coaches by delivering detailed performance information on over 80,000 players worldwide,” says Prozone’s CEO, Thomas Schmider. It’s apparently designed to allow managers at all levels of the professional game to assess potential buys, not only in terms of talent but also their ability to play in different leagues and team set-ups. The service will allow clubs to search an international database of players, with each entry providing detailed performance, contract and biographical stats. Scouted from a game.ĭeveloper Sports Interactive has signed a deal with sports performance analyst Prozone to supply data for a new online application, Prozone Recruiter. As reported on Monday, the long-running simulation Football Manager will soon be employed by clubs all over the world to help them scout for new players. It’s an unusual case of life imitating art – or more accurately, sport imitating video games.
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