Miles Jacobson on PC Market: "The Nay-Sayers Are Wrong"
"Not interested" in Championship Manager's woes.
Football Manager studio director Miles Jacobson has hit back at claims that the PC market is floundering - or worse, 'dead'.
"The nay-sayers are wrong. It's quite simple," Jacobson told SPOnG in an interview to be published later this week. "There are certain genres that have moved off the PC. The First Person Shooter is one of those - it's now console-friendly, because they have the control methodology right. We haven't worked out how to do that yet [for Football Manager]."
The comments come at a time where once PC-specific studios have focused on consoles instead, while activity in engine development is said to be slowing. The market seems to be shifting to a digital-dominant one, but software charts are only just acknowledging its existence. Microsoft, on the other hand, seems more than eager to reassure PC gamers that the platform will be revitalised.
Championship Manager, a rival brand that Jacobson used to work on, has had to duck out of boxed PC retail because it was "a format that was in decline." The Sports Interactive director disagreed with the reasoning, but wouldn't be drawn to speak of Beautiful Game's work.
"It's up to them. I mean, I don't work on that brand. I don't know what their sales figures have been like. At the end of the day, you've got to be able to make money out of what you're doing, to be able to break even and stay in business. If they've decided to take it somewhere else, then fine."
"I actually have no interest whatsoever in talking about our previous brand, so we concentrate on what we're doing, and try to make the best games that we can. I didn't know about their business model changes until someone told me last night, it... just doesn't interest me in the slightest."
Jacobson admits that sales for last year's Football Manager game on the PC were down slightly, but pinned the reason on the current economic climate. On the other hand, sales of the recent iPhone version has "made up" for that slump.
"There are still a lot of us who are doing fine on the PC platform, and I worry about the people who say the platform is dead. Because I don't know what market they're watching," he added.
Stay tuned for the first part of our Miles Jacobson interview later this week, where we discuss iPhones, the UK games industry and Virtua Striker.
"The nay-sayers are wrong. It's quite simple," Jacobson told SPOnG in an interview to be published later this week. "There are certain genres that have moved off the PC. The First Person Shooter is one of those - it's now console-friendly, because they have the control methodology right. We haven't worked out how to do that yet [for Football Manager]."
The comments come at a time where once PC-specific studios have focused on consoles instead, while activity in engine development is said to be slowing. The market seems to be shifting to a digital-dominant one, but software charts are only just acknowledging its existence. Microsoft, on the other hand, seems more than eager to reassure PC gamers that the platform will be revitalised.
Championship Manager, a rival brand that Jacobson used to work on, has had to duck out of boxed PC retail because it was "a format that was in decline." The Sports Interactive director disagreed with the reasoning, but wouldn't be drawn to speak of Beautiful Game's work.
"It's up to them. I mean, I don't work on that brand. I don't know what their sales figures have been like. At the end of the day, you've got to be able to make money out of what you're doing, to be able to break even and stay in business. If they've decided to take it somewhere else, then fine."
"I actually have no interest whatsoever in talking about our previous brand, so we concentrate on what we're doing, and try to make the best games that we can. I didn't know about their business model changes until someone told me last night, it... just doesn't interest me in the slightest."
Jacobson admits that sales for last year's Football Manager game on the PC were down slightly, but pinned the reason on the current economic climate. On the other hand, sales of the recent iPhone version has "made up" for that slump.
"There are still a lot of us who are doing fine on the PC platform, and I worry about the people who say the platform is dead. Because I don't know what market they're watching," he added.
Stay tuned for the first part of our Miles Jacobson interview later this week, where we discuss iPhones, the UK games industry and Virtua Striker.
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