As it is mentioned in previous post of our site and the official site we paid a visit to Bright Future studio, the developers of FIFA MANAGER.  After a brief tour at the studio and a lot of talks with the staff we finally went to the EA SPORTS CAFÉ for a coffee with the new International Community Manager of BF, Soeren,   and had a great interview.

Andreas: So Soeren can you tell to the Community some things about yourself?

Soeren: My name is Sören Stöß, I am the International Community Manager for FIFA MANAGER. I started working in this position in July. I am responsible for the international part of the forum, the fansites and our international Website’s content. My daily business mainly focuses on translations for the website and forum, answering forum posts and also maintaining facebook and our website.

A:  What are the expectations of BF for FIFA MANAGER 10?

S: First of all that our users play the new online mode. If 50% of them play it, we would be very happy. Our second wish that you all like the improvements we have made to the main game and that we selected the right stuff.

A: This year we had the first attempt for an online mode, how do you see it progressing? Is there any future for the online version?

S: So far we are very happy about the success. It was a big effort this year to implement this mode and we did it. For next year we have a solid code base and will further improve the online mode. For the updates we already implement many of the user wishes. Right now it looks that we can reach our objective to reach 50% of our total users with the online mode.

A:  Let’s focus now at the offline version. The 3d match of 09 version after update 4 was a better product compared to the one we got with 10 version, why?

S: This is very subjective. But there are always technical and tactical changes that may lead to a step backwards before we can continue with improvements. Update 2 is already a major step in the right direction.

A:  It is stated that update 2 will fix many issues, if it is not as good as expected, are you going to change your strategy about the updates?

S: We don’t expect any changes. We will have four updates and the dates are already published. They are very focused on bugs and a few useful little additions. Please always keep in mind that our user group is a lot bigger than the hardcore community. We cannot invest 90% of our time to listen to fansite wishes. But we give our best. Especially this year, just look at the workbench document. There are not many games that support their fansites that much.

A:  A lot of people miss the fusion mode, do you have any plans of putting this mode back in the game?

S: Yes, we have these plans. But Fusion needs a lot of coordination between the FIFA team and us. With the current differences between the engines this makes no sense. But we always keep Fusion in mind. We personally like the feature very much.

A: Why FIFA 10 has a set pieces creator and FIFA MANAGER 10 not?

S: Different games have different features. You cannot just take a feature from an action game and add it to a management game. J But it all depends on your feedback, if you all want a set piece generator, then there is a good chance we’ll do this. In the end this game is made for you.

A:  About old missing feature again. The hard core gamers liked the 5x5 tactics creator but it is removed from the previous version. Do you think that it would be good to be back in the game or the engine has progressed beyond this level?

S: It won’t come back because it was too complicated for too many of our players. Many people didn’t understand the system. Not even many people who write in the forums.

A:  Many gamers want more tactic and training options, what can you say to them?

S: These are core areas and they are right.

A:  This year the parameter files are encrypted, the reason as it is stated is that modified files produced bugs and many players reported them to you causing havoc. Have you discussed it with any fansite, that do modifications, before you reached the final version of the files? Do you have any second thoughts about your decision?

S:  There are no second thoughts. We are very happy that we did it because now our tuning efforts in the future will be based on solid feedback of the fans. In the end everybody will have a huge advantage. There is no doubt that the people who did the parameter files did a great job in the past and there is also no doubt that they are unhappy with our decision, but in the end if you guys would be in our position you would do the exactly same thing.

A: Now that our discussion progressed to the fansites, we know that a German fansite helped with the editor workbench and that you worked for the translation in English. What else should we expect from the next versions of the workbench?

S: The workbench is a project that is very important to us. Right now I try to support various people who plan to translate it to other languages. In the future we’ll add new features to the workbench, as soon as they are available in the game. This will be very helpful for the fansites, because we might be able to give you a head start next year.

A:  Do you plan any international fansite meeting in the future?

S: Yes, there are such plans but I have no date yet.

A:  What is your opinion about the debate concerning the German vs the International community of the game?

S: The German and international community are very different. The international community is built up by many countries, with very differing expectations towards the game. We are trying to answer questions asap, and we are publishing news, screenshots and blogs parallel, so that no community feels treated in an unfair way. Of course, a project like the workbench took some time, since the translation and the completion of this document is something different than translating a news entry. But for me it is important to satisfy our fans, and I think that the workbench shows our commitment in the community work.

S: We are not too much involved in this process. But it depends on the country and on the legal structure of the league. In some countries you would have to negotiate with every single club and this sometimes makes no sense.

A: We can understand that there is a relationship between Bright Future and EA Sports, can you define exactly this relationship?

S: Bright Future was founded in 2006 and the core team members worked for EA before. We have now released four games for EA (+ an extension for FIFA Manager 07), all on time and all very successful. So the relationship is very good. But EA and BF are independent companies.

A: Is there a FIFA MANAGER project without one of BF or EA?

S: Some team members are now working on FIFA Manager since 10 years. It has always been a very stable project. We don’t think about this question because we use our time to work on the game.

A: Do you believe that FIFA MANAGER is advertised enough?

S: As a team you never think that it is advertised enough. J But the ads depend on how strong the expected sales are. This means we have a lot of support in the countries we sell many copies.

A: What other projects does BF develop?

S: We have developed two NDS projects and are now working on two browser games.

A: The new era of PC Gaming is the MMOGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Games), have you ever considered to develop a Football MMOG?

S: Yes, there are many options. But we don’t want to grow the company too much and we don’t want to lose focus. Right now it has a very good size with about 35 people.

A: Is the development of FIFA MANAGER in the right direction, or the primary target is lost?

S: The question is a little bit strange. On average our review scores this year are up by 6%. This is a very good result. We have implemented more than 400 community wishes last year. Therefore there is a very clear answer: We are very well on track, but we understand that the now hidden parameter files and the finally no longer working action mode with all players are seen negative by some of our hardcore fans. On the other hand we have now a fantastic workbench document that gives the editors many new options and there is also the commitment to bring Fusion back as soon as there is real chance with the engine.

A:  Is FIFA MANAGER 11 an idea or have you started working on it?

S: We have started to prepare it. At this stage there are lots of technical things to do to make sure all the new features will work. In parallel a part of the team is working on the updates. The official announcement will of course be made by EA.

A:  Any exclusive for our fansite?

S: Right now this is difficult. All the news are released. J I would recommend to become a fan of “FIFA MANAGER – The Official Site” on Facebook. That’s the place to find all the latest information.

A: Do the staff of BF play the game for more than 2 seasons? Who has the high score?

S: Cord is always ahead. J

A: The customers of all the 3 football manager games that dominate the market this year ask for something more. Is it so hard to create a perfect game?

S: There is no such thing as the perfect game. Just go to the forum and make a list of all the wishes and you will see that it would take at least 10 years to implement them all. You would already work 6 weeks just to get the list. And in these 10 years you will then get more stuff for the next 15 years. Every new feature generates new ideas. But the current situation on the market is good for the users, there’s a lot of competition.

A: Soeren thank you for your time and your hospitality

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Last update : 08-12-2009 17:22

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