Championship Manager Heads To China

Square Enix Europe subsidiary Beautiful Game Studios announced a partnership with online games company Shanda Games Limited to co-develop a new, presumably free-to-play online Championship Manager title for China. Shanghai-based Shanda, which publishes and operates a number of massively multiplayer titles in China (e.g. Dungeons & Dragons Online, Company of Heroes Online), is working with Beautiful Game' Eidos Shanghai studio on the football management sim project. Beautiful Game believes that football, especially the European teams, are "hugely popular" in China, and hopes to take advantage of Shanda's experience with the local market to introduce the long-running Championship Manager brand there. The Championship Manager series has appeared across across various platforms since its debut 18 years ago. It's received a new entry almost every year, though Beautiful Game decided to not release a 2010/2011 edition in order to "re-focus [its] vision for the franchise and redefine [its] business model". "Beautiful Game Studios has a rich heritage in football simulation game development," says Shanda Games CEO Alan Tan. "The Championship Manager brand's pedigree has grown impressively from year-to-year since it hooked its first fans in the China market over a decade ago." "We believe this newly forged partnership will deliver football game content that will satisfy the most demanding devotees while attracting new ones from the deep pool of football aficionados in China."