The company plans to enhance the fantasy sports experience by allowing sports fans to control all team-related activities for their favorite pro or semi-pro franchise via their PCs.
Sports Interactive, the creators of the Championship Manager® series, have created an award-winning game engine that has been refined and tuned in accordance with the feedback received from fans over 12 years of development. They are now applying that management platform to other sports. Through these highly realistic simulations, gamers are responsible for overall team performance through the management of important franchise elements including, but not limited to, coaching, scouting, trading, human resources and finance.
"Hardcore sports fans can truly put their knowledge to the test by managing every element of a franchise, then compare their business and coaching decisions against their real world counterparts," said Scott A. Steinberg, vice president of entertainment marketing, SEGA of America, Inc. "Sophisticated sports management simulations represent the future of fantasy sports leagues."
NHL Eastside Hockey Manager (NHL EHM), officially endorsed by the National Hockey League™ (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA), will feature a total of 18 playable leagues from 12 countries, including more than 250 playable teams with a database of 15,000 players, coaches and staff to choose from. Worldwide Soccer Manager will feature leagues from more than 45 different countries, so players can manage clubs from countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, England, Italy and Spain. Officially licensed by Major League Soccer (MLS) in North America, the game will feature a player database of more than 245,000 players and staff from 3,000 manageable clubs in over 140 divisions.
SEGA plans to break the ice in North American by releasing NHL Eastside Hockey Manager in Fall, 2004, then Worldwide Soccer Manager in Winter, 2004.