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Sports Interactive

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Sports Interactive Limited
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded1994; 30 years ago (1994)
Founders
Headquarters
London
,
England
Key people
Products
Number of employees
115[2] (2018)
ParentSega West (2006–present)
Websitesigames.com

Sports Interactive Limited is a British video game developer based in London, best known for the Football Manager series. Founded by brothers Oliver and Paul Collyer in July 1994, the studio was acquired by Japanese video game publisher Sega in 2006; Sports Interactive is now a part of Sega West, which also comprises Creative Assembly, Relic Entertainment and Amplitude Studios.[3] 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 28 June 2012, Miles Jacobson and Ian Livingstone revealed why they split from Eidos Interactive and joined Sega. In a 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. 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.” He 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.”[4]

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.”[4]

On 4 April 2006 it was announced that Sega Holdings Europe Ltd, holding company for Sports Interactive's publishers Sega, had acquired Sports Interactive. When Sega acquired the company, it had 34 employees.[2] As of February 2018, Sports Interactive employed 115 staff members.[2]

Games

Accolades

The Collyers were appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours for services to the video game industry.[6] Miles Jacobson received the same appointment the following year.

References

  1. ^ "The Studio". Sports Interactive. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Dring, Christopher (26 February 2018). "New look Sports Interactive names Disney veteran Matt Carroll as COO". Gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  3. ^ "The Final Boss". MCV. No. 942. Future Publishing. December 2018. p. 70.
  4. ^ a b Nunneley, Stephany (28 June 2012). "Sports Interactive details split from Eidos after nine years of silence". vg247. Edge Magazine. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  5. ^ "Eastside Hockey Manager is back!". Sports Interactive. 27 January 2017.
  6. ^ "No. 59282". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2009. p. 14.
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