SEGA BRINGS SPORTS MANAGEMENT
SIMULATIONS TO NORTH AMERICA
Worldwide Soccer Manager and NHL
Eastside Hockey Manager to Take Fantasy Sports to Next Level
SAN FRANCISCO (September 1, 2004) –
SEGA® of America today announced that it will publish a series of sports
management simulation titles for the PC and Mac in partnership with UK developer
Sports Interactive, creators of the Championship Manager series (Europe’s
best-selling PC title). The company plans to enhance the fantasy sports
experience by allowing sports fans to control all team-related activities for
their favorite pro or semi-pro franchise via their PCs.
Sports Interactive, the creators of
the Championship Manager® series, have created an award-winning game engine that
has been refined and tuned in accordance with the feedback received from fans
over 12 years of development. They are now applying that management platform to
other sports. Through these highly realistic simulations, gamers are responsible
for overall team performance through the management of important franchise
elements including, but not limited to, coaching, scouting, trading, human
resources and finance.
"Hardcore sports fans can truly put
their knowledge to the test by managing every element of a franchise, then
compare their business and coaching decisions against their real world
counterparts," said Scott A. Steinberg, vice president of entertainment
marketing, SEGA of America, Inc. "Sophisticated sports management simulations
represent the future of fantasy sports leagues."
NHL Eastside Hockey Manager™ (NHL
EHM™), officially endorsed by the National Hockey League™ (NHL) and the National
Hockey League Players’ Association™ (NHLPA™), will feature a total of 18
playable leagues from 12 countries, including more than 250 playable teams with
a database of 15,000 players, coaches and staff to choose from. Worldwide Soccer
Manager will feature leagues from more than 45 different countries, so players
can manage clubs from countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, England,
Italy and Spain. Officially licensed by Major League Soccer (MLS) in North
America, the game will feature a player database of more than 245,000 players
and staff from 3,000 manageable clubs in over 140 divisions.
SEGA plans to break the ice in North
American by releasing NHL Eastside Hockey Manager in Fall, 2004, then Worldwide
Soccer Manager in Winter, 2004.
About SEGA
SEGA® of America, Inc. is the
American arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA Corporation, a worldwide leader in
interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company
develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products
for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those
manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. SEGA of
America’s Web site is located at www.SEGA.com.
About Sports Interactive
Sports Interactive (SI), the creator
of the Championship Manager® series, is the world’s leading developer of sports
management simulations. Founded in 1994 and based in Islington, North London, SI
has a full-time staff of 34 and employs the services of more than 2,500
part-time researchers across the globe. Five of SI’s creations are among the
UK’s Top 20 best-selling PC games of all time. The company’s future games will
be published by the global computer and video games giant, SEGA. Further
information on the company is available from its website,
www.sigames.com.
# # #
SEGA is a trademark
of SEGA Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are
properties of their respective owners.
