''Football Manager 2014'' is

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

management

simulation video game Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...

and the eleventh instalment in the ''

Football Manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

'' series developed by

Sports Interactive Sports Interactive Limited is a British video game developer based in London, best known for the ''Football Manager'' series. Founded by brothers Collyer brothers (game designers), Oliver and Paul Collyer in July 1994, the studio was acquired in ...

and published by

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

. It was released on

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

, and

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

on 30 October 2013. A handheld version titled ''Football Manager Handheld 2014'' was released for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

and

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

on 14 November 2013. A

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...

version titled ''Football Manager Classic 2014'' was released on 11 April 2014.

Gameplay

''Football Manager 2014'' features similar

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game. The term applies to both video games and Tabletop game, tabletop games. Gameplay is the connection between the player and the game, the player's overcoming of challenges, and t ...

to that of the ''Football Manager'' series. Gameplay consists of taking charge of a professional football team (the game also includes semi-professional, amateur, and international teams) as the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. Players can sign football players to contracts, manage finances for the club, and give team talks to players. The ''Football Manager'' series is a simulation of real world management, with the player being judged on various factors by the club's AI owners and board. ''Football Manager 2014'' features a revamped transfer module where opposing clubs and managers adopt a more realistic approach when making or responding to transfer offers. In addition, a number of new real world transfer clauses have been added, such as the ability to loan a player back to the club he has just been bought from and the option to offer a combination of cash and loan players, as well as new contract clauses such as a sub bench appearance fee. The old turn-based system of transfer negotiations can now be done two ways: the tried and tested system and a new live system, similar to that used in ''Football Manager''s contract negotiations. Interaction between players, managers, their rivals and the media has been improved. For example, members of the coaching staff now offer feedback on how reserve and youth team players are performing. Managers can also ask key players to have a word with unhappy squad members, while the introduction of an end-of-season meeting allows the manager to let the squad know how they have performed and set targets for the coming season. Contract negotiations are more realistic in the game, as managers and boards can now make demands and lay down their visions for the club in both initial job interviews and contract renewal discussions. Managers can attempt to renegotiate transfer and wage budgets as a reward for staying loyal if they've been offered a job by another club, with the outcome helping to aid their decision on whether to move or not. The news system has been overhauled so managers can now deal with many club matters directly from their inbox. In addition, news is now colour-coded, based on category, and contains more detail – for example, scout reports now appear as a single news item with a top-line report on all players scouted and the facility to short-list or make an offer for each of these players. For the first time in the series, star players have a testimonial after they have been at the club for a certain period of time or when they announce their retirement. The match engine features extensive improvements, including enhanced AI, improved lighting and player animation, individual player character and kit models, more realistic player reaction to on-field incidents, and a range of optimisations. Creation of tactics, selection and implementation with player roles and team strategies, definable roles for players for multiple positions, new player roles and instructions, and improvements to rival managers' AI have been overhauled so that they adapt their tactics more readily over time.Football Manager 2014

Development

The game was announced on 14 August 2013 on ''Football Manager''s official website. A beta version of the game was available for download two weeks prior to the game is released, exclusive to those who pre-order The PlayStation Vita version is titled ''Football Manager Classic 2014''; unlike other handheld versions of the previous instalments in the series, it includes the 3D match engine. This version is designed for quicker game progress than the Microsoft Windows version. One of the new features of ''Football Manager 2014'' is the Football Manager 2014 Steam Workshop. The player can search many free content from Football Manager Steam Workshop and download it and share their own to the Football Manager Steam Workshop. For example, the user can share their tactics, their favourite skins, league and data updates, kits, challenges, views, filters, shortlists, match plans, versus mode teams, facepacks, logos, and custom database options. The Football Manager 2014 Steam Workshop is like a social site of the people who play ''Football Manager 2014''. In the Football Manager 2014 Steam Workshop, the player can discuss ''Football Manager 2014'' with all the othe rplayers, subscribe items they like to their friends, see their friend's favourite items, and follow their favourite authors.

Reception

''Football Manager 2014'' received mostly positive reviews. The Microsoft Windows version of the game has received 85/100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. On 12 February 2014, it was announced that the game was nominated for a

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

in the Best Sports Game category. ''GameZone''s Jake Valentine gave it an 8.5/10, stating: "It's not always fun to look at spreadsheets for hours upon hours in a video game, even if it is your kind of thing. Yet Football Manager 14 finds a way to make it fun."

Sales

As of 31 March 2014, the game had sold 790,000 copies in Europe and North America. By 2017, ''Football Manager 2014'' had sold over one million copies since release. Miles Jackobson of Sports Interactive stated that '' Football Manager 2017'' had sold one million copies, and the series had "5(th) game(s) in a row".

References

External links

* {{Football Manager series

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...