Football Manager is an RPG 'with more NPCs than any other RPG on the planet'

I like Football Manager, and I'm forever telling friends/colleagues/anyone who'll listen that, at its heart, it's a complex strategy game. If you hate football, you won't like it. But if you've even a passing interest in The Beautiful Game, I'm convinced you'll fall for its flood of stats, numbers, players and management sim mechanics. Granted, Miles Jacobson is inclined to agree, but the Sports Interactive head honcho also believes Football Manager shares core values with the RPG genre. 

"I think Football Manager absolutely is a strategy game, but it's also an RPG," Jacobson tells me. "It's an RPG with more NPCs than any other RPG on the planet. It's an RPG that lets you completely create your own story, there's not a linear path in Football Manager and everyone's game is different. You are playing the role of a football manager when you're playing the game, and you're doing everything that a football manager would do in real life. So it should satisfy people in both the RPG and strategy camps. 

"But, it is a football-based game, obviously. In the same way that there are some games I myself don't play because I don't like the setting—I'm personally not a big fan of elves and orcs, and never have been (give me Lego Hobbit and you're fine!), therefore a Lord of the Rings MMO probably isn't for me."

Jacobson says that with this in mind, FM's yearly demo offers would-be players a taste of what to expect. Over half a season, players get up to ten to 12 hours in the dugout, and Jacobson says he and his team encourage those interested to try before they buy. Likewise saves carry over to the main game, should you choose to splash out thereafter.

"We believe in the work that we do," adds Jacobson. "We strongly believe that it's important to allow people to try it before they buy. If they do end up buying it, the one thing that we can say for certainty is: it is the best value for money game available in the PC market. We're the most played singleplayer game on Steam per year. We've sold just over a million copies of FM18, that's 11 months after release. We still have half a million playing FM18 each month. 

"To have that level of dedication amongst people, and a load of those will actually skip FM19 to carry on playing their FM18 saves. We have no issues with that at all. If people are enjoying one of our previous games as well, that's great. There are 300,000 people who're still playing 17, 16, 15 and 14 each month as well. In some cases it's four years after release. That's what we provide people in the PC landscape."

Football Manager 2019 is due November 2, 2018. Look out for our full interview with Miles Jacobson about its new features in the coming days. 

Deputy Editor, PC Gaming Show
Latest in Sim
Dwarf Fortress adventure mode art
After 23 years of making Dwarf Fortress, even its creator is still 'terrified' of drowning all his dwarves with aquifers: 'Part of the problem is we are just not good at videogames'
Tarn Adams, who cofounded Bay 12 Games with his brother Zach, talks about their single-player simulation game "Dwarf Fortress" during an interview at their home office in Poulsbo, Washington, west of Seattle, on December 9, 2022. - A cult favorite among indie game fans, "Dwarf Fortress" has been available for purchase on the Steam online store since December 6, a first for this title that has been distributed for free since its debut in 2006. The real-time management game, set in a medieval-fantasy world and involving overseeing a group of dwarves seeking to build a mighty fortress, has climbed to the fourth best-selling weekly title on Steam. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)
Dwarf Fortress' creator is so tired of hearing about AI: 'Press a button and it writes a really sh*tty, wrong essay about something—and they still take your job'
Decorations in TCG Card Shop Simulator
TCG Card Shop Simulator finally adds the ability to decorate our stores, and suddenly all my profits are being spent on adorable Pigni posters
A person on a snowmobile riding a track in the forest in game Sledders.
Powder enthusiasts seem pretty pleased with new physics-based realistic snowmobile sim Sledders
Dean Hall at GDC 2025.
Outer space inspired DayZ's Dean Hall to become a modder and game developer, and now he's making a Kerbal successor called Kitten Space Agency
Bannerlord naval expansion reveal
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is heading to the ocean with a Viking-themed naval expansion this summer
Latest in News
Assassin's Creed Shadows promo image
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Tzarina Katarin Bokha, the Ice Queen of Kislev
Total War: Warhammer 3 rolls out a cool Kislev overhaul, changes befitting Tzeench’s magic, new projectile units and creakier skeletal horses
An image of a golden first place award from Geoguessr
'We're actually getting GeoGuessr on Steam before GTA 6': the Google Street View puzzler arrives on Valve's platform this April
Napster client circa 1999
Former music-pirating platform Napster to be reborn rather ironically as a metaverse for musicians to connect with their fans after $207 million deal
The snazzy red and black HyperX Cloud Alpha wireless headphones float in a teal void. The microphone is attached to the headset.
The best wireless gaming headset is now even better in the Amazon Big Spring Sale, boasting a more than $50 discount
A chip being held up in an Intel fab
Intel is reportedly 'working to finalize commitments from Nvidia' as a foundry partner, suggesting gaming potential for the 18A node