Sports Interactive

Sports Interactive is a London-based video game development studio best known for creating the sports-management simulation franchise Football Manager. The studio develops sports-management games and sporting data-intelligence platforms, combining game design, software engineering, simulation systems and football research.

Founded in 1994, the company grew from the work of brothers Paul and Oliver Collyer, whose original management game, Championship Manager, was created in the early 1990s. Following the end of its publishing and intellectual-property agreement with Eidos Interactive, Sports Interactive partnered with SEGA in 2004 and launched the Football Manager series. SEGA Europe Limited acquired the studio as a wholly owned subsidiary in 2006.

Simulation and game development

The studio builds sports-management experiences for PC, Mac, console, mobile and touch platforms. Its work spans full-cycle game development, match-engine and simulation engineering, UI/UX design for complex systems, live operations and post-launch maintenance.

A core part of its approach is proprietary match AI and simulation technology, supported by football scouting, modelling and analytics. Sports Interactive maintains a large football-research database through a global network of scouts and contributors, bringing real-world player, club and competition information into its simulation work.

Selected work

• Football Manager and its console, touch and mobile editions
• Championship Manager series
• Eastside Hockey Manager
• Football Manager Live
• Worldwide Soccer Manager
• HELP: The Game, a charity initiative for War Child

Sports Interactive’s development studio operates from Here East in Stratford, London, where its teams cover disciplines including design, gameplay engineering, quality assurance, UI/UX and match AI. The company remains an active game developer within the SEGA group.