Championship Manager On Ice?

When we interviewed the Collyer brothers last June, we asked them if they might one day try something other than football management sims for a change, as they've been working on the same game (the multi-million selling Championship Manager series) for over a decade now. Their reply was that "if another developer came to us and said 'we've written this really cool' .. I dunno, 'baseball game' and it had been written with the same dedication and enthusiasm as we write Championship Manager, then we might try and help them". Well, it seems that this is exactly what happened, because today Sports Interactive have announced that they are teaming up with a Finnish shareware developer to produce Eastside Hockey Manager: Franchise Edition. Described as "the sport's most comprehensive management simulation to date", previous versions of the ice hockey game have apparently already attracted rave reviews in Scandinavia. The two teams are now hoping that their combined talents will help the latest version reach wider success when it's released next year. And given that ice hockey is one of the most popular sports in Canada, the USA and parts of Europe, it could prove to be a break-out title for SI as well. "Whilst the subject matter may raise a few eyebrows in the UK games industry, there is a massive potential audience out there which has remained largely ignored", according to managing director Miles Jacobson. "This is the start of a new franchise for Sports Interactive. We will be working with the sport as closely as we currently do with football and will be announcing some partners soon. It's a huge title for us." Meanwhile awe-struck lead designer Risto Remes described working with SI as "a dream come true", saying that "they were the inspiration for our game". Aw, bless. Related Feature - Collyer brothers interview (June 2001)

Source - press release