Football Manager 13 could make its way on to the Vita

By: Musa Afridi

  |   September 10th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

Sports Interactive, the studio behind the game, has not ruled out the game one day releasing on Sony’s PlayStation Vita, however, for that to happen the studio admits that the game needs to post strong sales on other platforms first.

The PlayStation Vita is in need of content and third-party support. That much is clear and even Sony will not argue against it, in fact, they have been singing to the same tune since the console was released. A number of games have been announced but a Football Manager title could add more depth to the console’s portfolio.

As it turns out, Sports Interactive had developed a version of their earlier instalment of the game for the PlayStation Portable and discovered “by accident that you could play the PSP version of Football Manager Handheld on (the) Vita.”

Miles Jacobson, from Sports Interactive, went on to praise the device despite its less than impressive performance when it came to sales.

“I really like the device, I know it may not have performed at retail as much as people would have liked, but we’re constantly watching to see if it does pick up.”

He went on to explain that bringing Football Manager to the console could become a real possibility provided one or two things happened.

“It is a really special device, and hopefully it will get to the stage where we can get something through Sega so Football Manager can be on the system.”

Miles wrapped things up when he said, “At the end of the day, we are running a business and we need our games to be profitable, so we have to take into account the sales of the Vita version before making a decision.”

Football Manager is a series with some calibre and its appearance on the Vita could bode well for the console if it ever does happen. Sony seems to have a challenge making the Vita more appealing to both consumers and developers, but if it does manage to do so then the console’s fortunes could turn around dramatically.

A number of titles have been announced for the Vita but users will have to wait until the end of this year and the start of the next before they can get their hands on them. Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation and Black Ops: Declassified are two titles that represent third-party support for the console while Killzone: Mercenary and Tearaway are two games that represent first-party support.

All the aforementioned titles need to be able to pull consumers in if Sony wants to turn that frown upside down but one still feels that the console needs that one killer game that defines it and so far, there is no sign of it on the horizon.