Football Manager is one of the most popular football games in the world and is made by Sports Interactive. But it could have been an EA Sports game, if the company had not said “no” to the project in the early 90s.
The letter
Today, England’s National Football Museum displays a letter from EA Sports addressed to brothers Paul and Oliver Collyer. At the time, the game was still called European Champions.
In it, an EA production assistant apologises to the brothers and explains that the company will not release the prototype. The reason? In short, EA did not believe that a game based on statistics, with no action, could succeed.
Despite turning it down, he wished them luck with other companies already working on football simulators. What is more, there is a delightful note at the end: a warning that the game’s floppy disks were infected with a virus.
The rest is history
So, a year later, in 1992, the Collyers took the idea to Domark (later part of Eidos) and signed a deal. Championship Manager was born, and it became a phenomenon throughout the 90s and until 2003. Then, in 2004, with Sports Interactive now split from Eidos, the game was renamed Football Manager, and its success continues to this day.
On the other hand, years later EA did release its own simulator, FIFA Manager, but it never got there and was eventually discontinued.
Where the letter is
The letter was sent in 1991. Later, it became part of “Pitch to Pixel”, the exhibition that the National Football Museum in Manchester put together with the help of EA Sports and Sports Interactive to tell the story of football games. In other words, the two companies ended up side by side in the same room, with proof of the “no” on the wall.
Imagine what it would have been like if EA had said “yes”. Do you think the game would be the same?
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Sources: Canaltech / Who Ate All The Pies / Trivela / PCGamesN / Wikipedia