Interview with Miles Jacobson
Average Rating: 9/10 Hits: 323 Submitted: Jan 16, 2008
A month or so ago we contact Miles Jacobson to see if he would answer some questions regards Football Manager 2008, FM2009, FM Live and the FM Community, he kindly accepted and has duly provided the answers.
Questions on Football Manager 2008
Question 1
With the recent release of Football Manager 2008, was the release a success for the company?
We're sure the game sold well because it is still the number one Football management game but was this particular version a milestone in the success it has achieved?
Response by Miles
Very much so – game sales are up in every territory that I've had figures from, and word of mouth seems to be very strong (this keeps the game selling long term). It's still number one in the UK in the PC chart, having been knocked off for a few weeks by Call of Duty.
Review scores have also been strong, and the majority of feedback is very positive indeed.
Question 2
Every year you guys release the latest version of the game there is the usual whinning how the game should have had this, should have had that, but what do you say to these people that say this version lacked enough new big features?
Response by Miles
We go through all the ideas each year from the forums, and our own, and decide what will make the game better, and what is able to be done in time. We're very happy with the additional feature set this year, and also what the extra features can bring in the future. Whatever we do, and whatever we add, we cannot please all people, as different people play the game in different ways, so we just make the best game we possibly can.
Question 3
How many people now work on Football Manager the PC version? Has the team increased or decreased considering you need staff to work on other platforms?
Response by Miles
The team has increased, and continues to do so each year. It's difficult to give an exact figure, with all the researchers, and some of the team who work on the platform layers working on more than one platform. We'll be taking on a few more people in the next 12 months too. What tends to happen is that we take on a couple of junior coders each year on the FM team, who then move onto working on other areas of the game when they feel ready, and then take on more juniors. It's worked very well for us in the past, and continues to do so. But we've also taken on a couple of more senior coders this year, which has also worked well – it's all about the people, and how they fit into the team.
The other projects, with exception of the platform layers used, are separate teams - console, handheld, FML, FM, graphics and tech are the 6 teams we have in dev.
Question 4
It seems that this version of Football Manager has been pretty stable so will there be another patch for FM2008 and if so any hints as to when we will see it?
Response by Miles
Yes, there will – it'll be out a few weeks after the transfer window, with a data update. There are still a few issues that are affecting some users, such as a few different issues with registration of players in Spain, a Scottish amateur team who seem to buy lots of players, and some match engine niggles, which we all want sorted, and they should be for that patch.Questions on The Community
Question 5
What is happening with the Affiliates scheme (SIAS)? It seems that it never gets updated meaning the same sites get most of the visits. Will SI be addressing this any time soon as this is a great scheme that helps the community grow?
Response by Miles
We are hoping that this can be addressed this year, but it all depends on the new SI website that is being planned, and when the Sega web team have the chance to get that moving forward.
Question 6
What do you think of community at the moment? Do you guys visit the community sites at all?
Response by Miles
I can't talk for the others here, but I do, particularly some of the busier forums. David Kempshall who works on FM for Sega has been taking up a lot of the mantle on the community side of things, and spends a lot of time on the various sites.
I think the community is a bit static at the moment – there are some good sites out there, but I don't think we're currently doing enough to support them, partly because of the SIAS stuff not moving forward, and partly because of a lack of time. What I do really like is a lot of the parodies that have been springing u – they take so much effort, and even the ones that are having a go at us show how much people care about the game and what we do. There's a very thin line between love and hate ;o)
Question 7
In the past the SI website would check out community sites and give updates on a fairly regular basis ( I believe monthly ), will this ever happen again? I believe this was part of the fanzine but im not completely sure, it was a long time ago now!
Response by Miles
David at footballmanager.net is doing that more and more, and I've just signed off a newsletter that includes a bit about a community round-up, so I know it's being done, and I look forward to seeing it myself once the newsletter is out and the page is active!Questions on the future of Football Manager
Question 8
With the football manager series there has usually been a point where the engine has reached a point where it's easier to just completely rebuild it. Would you say Football Manager will reach this point soon? Will we see a complete re-write of the engine any time soon?
Response by Miles
No – as sections need re-vamping, they get re-vamped. That tends to be one or two modules per year at the moment, and we strongly believe that that is the best way forward.
Question 9
Does it ever get to a point where you guys think, hmmm we can't actually think of a new feature for the game? Would you say you use the forums a lot for ideas?
Response by Miles
All ideas, wherever they come from, are valid, and get brought up in the feature meetings. We still have hundreds of ideas that we'd like to see in the game – the hardest thing each year is deciding what not to put in the game, rather than what to put in.
Question 10
What would you really love to be added to the game. This can be anything, something that simply isnt possible right now maybe, what do you feel would be a great addition to the game?
Response by Miles
There was a feature that I put forward for FM2009 that isn't going to go in (for very valid reasons) that I'd love to see in there. But the aim is for me to fight a bit harder for it for FM2010, by which point it should be possible, so I'm not going to reveal it yet…
Question 11
We had a few questions about a 3D-match engine. This question has come up plenty of times before but is it any closer to happening. I think previously the community was split on this idea but is it any closer to being a feature in the game?
Response by Miles
It gets closer each year as the technology gets better each year, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions in this area.
Question 12
You made a post on the forums highlighting something a lot of long term FM fans thought, the forums were not as nice a place to post as they were. Do you feel you're making progress on this issue? Do you guys still feel the forums are as valuable as previously?
Response by Miles
I think the progress so far has been very slow, in that the only real progress that is visible to the user is me shutting down threads when they are getting out of control, and giving the reasons why.
Behind the scenes we have made good progress, and have a cunning plan, although it is a long term one. The aim is that something will happen in the next few weeks that will change things for the better a little bit, and be based on what the majority of forum users want, then a big change which will hopefully sort out the larger issues will hopefully come into place between easter time and the Summer, but it is still a plan, so don't shoot me if it doesn't happen til Autumn. We are determined to make our forums great again, which will also encourage more people from SI to post on there.Questions on Football Manager Live
Question 13
For all those who are not beta testers for the game, how is the games process coming along? Would you say its proving to be a harder game to produce because its online based?
Response by Miles
It certainly brings up different challenges, but I wouldn't say it was harder. The process is going really well, and I'm incredibly proud of Ov and the dev team, and the FML publishing and production teams at SI and Sega for getting the game to the stage it's at. A very big new feature went into one of the beta game worlds yesterday which gives even more long term gameplay possibilities than were already in there, and will let people specialise at different managerial skills, which is great. There will be more beta worlds opening soon, so if you're not already part of the testing process, sign up to have a chance.
Question 14
Has there been any update to what it will cost per month?
Response by Miles
As soon as there is, we will announce it – the hardware costs are still being worked on, and we can't set a price until we know how much it's going to cost to run!
Question 1
With the recent release of Football Manager 2008, was the release a success for the company?
We're sure the game sold well because it is still the number one Football management game but was this particular version a milestone in the success it has achieved?
Response by Miles
Very much so – game sales are up in every territory that I've had figures from, and word of mouth seems to be very strong (this keeps the game selling long term). It's still number one in the UK in the PC chart, having been knocked off for a few weeks by Call of Duty.
Review scores have also been strong, and the majority of feedback is very positive indeed.
Question 2
Every year you guys release the latest version of the game there is the usual whinning how the game should have had this, should have had that, but what do you say to these people that say this version lacked enough new big features?
Response by Miles
We go through all the ideas each year from the forums, and our own, and decide what will make the game better, and what is able to be done in time. We're very happy with the additional feature set this year, and also what the extra features can bring in the future. Whatever we do, and whatever we add, we cannot please all people, as different people play the game in different ways, so we just make the best game we possibly can.
Question 3
How many people now work on Football Manager the PC version? Has the team increased or decreased considering you need staff to work on other platforms?
Response by Miles
The team has increased, and continues to do so each year. It's difficult to give an exact figure, with all the researchers, and some of the team who work on the platform layers working on more than one platform. We'll be taking on a few more people in the next 12 months too. What tends to happen is that we take on a couple of junior coders each year on the FM team, who then move onto working on other areas of the game when they feel ready, and then take on more juniors. It's worked very well for us in the past, and continues to do so. But we've also taken on a couple of more senior coders this year, which has also worked well – it's all about the people, and how they fit into the team.
The other projects, with exception of the platform layers used, are separate teams - console, handheld, FML, FM, graphics and tech are the 6 teams we have in dev.
Question 4
It seems that this version of Football Manager has been pretty stable so will there be another patch for FM2008 and if so any hints as to when we will see it?
Response by Miles
Yes, there will – it'll be out a few weeks after the transfer window, with a data update. There are still a few issues that are affecting some users, such as a few different issues with registration of players in Spain, a Scottish amateur team who seem to buy lots of players, and some match engine niggles, which we all want sorted, and they should be for that patch.Questions on The Community
Question 5
What is happening with the Affiliates scheme (SIAS)? It seems that it never gets updated meaning the same sites get most of the visits. Will SI be addressing this any time soon as this is a great scheme that helps the community grow?
Response by Miles
We are hoping that this can be addressed this year, but it all depends on the new SI website that is being planned, and when the Sega web team have the chance to get that moving forward.
Question 6
What do you think of community at the moment? Do you guys visit the community sites at all?
Response by Miles
I can't talk for the others here, but I do, particularly some of the busier forums. David Kempshall who works on FM for Sega has been taking up a lot of the mantle on the community side of things, and spends a lot of time on the various sites.
I think the community is a bit static at the moment – there are some good sites out there, but I don't think we're currently doing enough to support them, partly because of the SIAS stuff not moving forward, and partly because of a lack of time. What I do really like is a lot of the parodies that have been springing u – they take so much effort, and even the ones that are having a go at us show how much people care about the game and what we do. There's a very thin line between love and hate ;o)
Question 7
In the past the SI website would check out community sites and give updates on a fairly regular basis ( I believe monthly ), will this ever happen again? I believe this was part of the fanzine but im not completely sure, it was a long time ago now!
Response by Miles
David at footballmanager.net is doing that more and more, and I've just signed off a newsletter that includes a bit about a community round-up, so I know it's being done, and I look forward to seeing it myself once the newsletter is out and the page is active!Questions on the future of Football Manager
Question 8
With the football manager series there has usually been a point where the engine has reached a point where it's easier to just completely rebuild it. Would you say Football Manager will reach this point soon? Will we see a complete re-write of the engine any time soon?
Response by Miles
No – as sections need re-vamping, they get re-vamped. That tends to be one or two modules per year at the moment, and we strongly believe that that is the best way forward.
Question 9
Does it ever get to a point where you guys think, hmmm we can't actually think of a new feature for the game? Would you say you use the forums a lot for ideas?
Response by Miles
All ideas, wherever they come from, are valid, and get brought up in the feature meetings. We still have hundreds of ideas that we'd like to see in the game – the hardest thing each year is deciding what not to put in the game, rather than what to put in.
Question 10
What would you really love to be added to the game. This can be anything, something that simply isnt possible right now maybe, what do you feel would be a great addition to the game?
Response by Miles
There was a feature that I put forward for FM2009 that isn't going to go in (for very valid reasons) that I'd love to see in there. But the aim is for me to fight a bit harder for it for FM2010, by which point it should be possible, so I'm not going to reveal it yet…
Question 11
We had a few questions about a 3D-match engine. This question has come up plenty of times before but is it any closer to happening. I think previously the community was split on this idea but is it any closer to being a feature in the game?
Response by Miles
It gets closer each year as the technology gets better each year, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions in this area.
Question 12
You made a post on the forums highlighting something a lot of long term FM fans thought, the forums were not as nice a place to post as they were. Do you feel you're making progress on this issue? Do you guys still feel the forums are as valuable as previously?
Response by Miles
I think the progress so far has been very slow, in that the only real progress that is visible to the user is me shutting down threads when they are getting out of control, and giving the reasons why.
Behind the scenes we have made good progress, and have a cunning plan, although it is a long term one. The aim is that something will happen in the next few weeks that will change things for the better a little bit, and be based on what the majority of forum users want, then a big change which will hopefully sort out the larger issues will hopefully come into place between easter time and the Summer, but it is still a plan, so don't shoot me if it doesn't happen til Autumn. We are determined to make our forums great again, which will also encourage more people from SI to post on there.Questions on Football Manager Live
Question 13
For all those who are not beta testers for the game, how is the games process coming along? Would you say its proving to be a harder game to produce because its online based?
Response by Miles
It certainly brings up different challenges, but I wouldn't say it was harder. The process is going really well, and I'm incredibly proud of Ov and the dev team, and the FML publishing and production teams at SI and Sega for getting the game to the stage it's at. A very big new feature went into one of the beta game worlds yesterday which gives even more long term gameplay possibilities than were already in there, and will let people specialise at different managerial skills, which is great. There will be more beta worlds opening soon, so if you're not already part of the testing process, sign up to have a chance.
Question 14
Has there been any update to what it will cost per month?
Response by Miles
As soon as there is, we will announce it – the hardware costs are still being worked on, and we can't set a price until we know how much it's going to cost to run!
