Sports Interactive unveils Football Manager MMO

Sports Interactive has revealed that it's working on a Football Manager MMO for PC and Mac, with a beta test planned to take place in May.

Football Manager Live will let players create and manage your own custom team, competing against up to 1000 other people on each game server.

"Imagine a cross between Football Manager, fantasy sports and auctions sites - and you are part of the way to understanding Football Manager Live," said Miles Jacobson, managing director of Sports Interactive.

"It's great to be able to announce the game, and we can't wait to see the reaction to the beta when it launches next month."

Players will get the option to have a team chosen automatically or decide their own line-up with a GBP 100k wage limit. The game will feature user-created and standard leagues, and there could be specific leagues - such as a Wednesday table where games take place each Wednesday evening. If players aren't able to take part in a game the computer will auto-play in their place.

The project is being led by SI co-founder Oliver Collyer. The game will be small in size, around 11MB for PC and 15MB for Mac, giving players the chance to keep their teams up to date from different computers.

It'll use the 2D match engine familiar to Football Manager fans, and offer a wealth of options and tactics inherent to the popular series. Trading will be done using an auction mechanic, whereby players set the time and price and other people place bids.

Those with less time on their hands won't be at a big disadvantage, as casual players are promised bigger point rewards from less frequent games.

Sports Interactive will be giving out exclusive beta keys throughout May, and the full game is due out in March 2008. For more info about the game visit our sister site, Eurogamer.net.