Soccer Manager launches mobile game in China

The launch comes a year after Soccer Manager signed a multi-million pound deal with Crazy Sports, the Beijing games publisher which is the official partner of the Chinese Super League.

The new game is based on Soccer Manager’s existing Arena game and has taken 12 months to adapt and launch into the Chinese market.

“Unlike in the West where a number of big players dominate the market, in China there are hundreds of app stores. Crazy Sports decided to work on 19 of them, so we have had to create multiple interfaces. The Chinese market is also more regulated and it can take months to get the right licences and approvals.”

Soccer Manager, which now employs 29 people in Preston, received initial support from Mercia in 2013 in the form of a £100,000 loan from Rosebud Finance, which is managed by Mercia on behalf of Lancashire County Council. Since then Mercia has invested a total of £2m. Mike Hayes, the former CEO of SEGA games for Europe and America who is now head of digital and digital entertainment at Mercia, said: “With over 600m players, China has now overtaken the US as the games capital of the globe. Having worked with Soccer Manager and supported their growth for the past five years, it is great to see them take the first steps into the world’s biggest games market.”