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Football Manager 2019 announced and sadly it's not coming to Linux

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We will start the day with a bit of sad news, as the latest version of the popular Football Manager series Football Manager 2019 is not coming to Linux.

Announced today, Football Manager 2019 is only listing Windows and Mac on Steam. A user on Twitter reached out about the missing Linux version, to which the director of Football Manager simply replied that it was correct.

We followed up to ask why that is and the reply was this:

cost/benefit analysis. It unfortunately wasn't selling enough on Linux to cover the QA costs, let alone the dev cost. :(

Sports Interactive first put the game on Linux back in November 2013, which was considered a really good thing for Linux gamers considering how popular the title is. Looking at the 2018 edition, right now it has over thirty thousand people playing it (the peak today being nearly double that), so to have a game as popular as that no longer support Linux is a bit of a loss.

If it's not selling enough as they say to cover the costs, then you can't really argue against that. It sadly doesn't make sense for all games, even if they're popular on one platform they won't always be on another.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Sports, Steam
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55 comments
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joaojotta Aug 6, 2018
Here’s my thought to SI:
Keep your re-skinned overpriced 2019 resource hungry Java crap.
I’ll be fine without it.

Now beetwen us: I have 2012, 2014, 2015 and a few other boxed versions and the only reason I don’t have them all is because of the stupid price tag.
This game is hugely overpriced!
Also, a football management game where you can’t praise/complain on individual player actions is crap (don’t know if it’s coming to 2019 or not but it should have come years ago).
Leopard Aug 6, 2018
Quoting: Tuxee
Quoting: LeopardPeople on Linux don't buy games

Makes me wonder where those 417 Linux titles in my Steam library come from. Well, quite a few come from Humble Bundles, but apart from that I've bought 17 games so far in 2018. In they weren't even in the below-one-Euro pricing range: Helium Rain, Factorio, Skyforce Reloaded, RUINER, ROTR, Steamworld Dig 2,...

I'd rather say people on Windows don't buy games. They copy 'em.

Obviously that is not enough when you compare ports cost/ Linux staff cost vs sales.

Congrats for you man
Leopard Aug 6, 2018
Quoting: Beamboom
Quoting: LeopardPeople on Linux don't buy games

Why do you bother stating such obviously wrong claims? Why are you even here, on a site with pretty much only Linux gamers buying games (with the possibly single exception being you).

I'm here because i'm a gamer on Linux. That's it.

But problem is that ; Football Manager is a PC exclusive game. Means consoles are out. So that is very niche and Linux gamers can/ could mean so much more to them than Linux gamers did to say Rockstar , Epic Games , CDPR and so on.

That is a warning bell.

There is an obvious statement about strategy genre on Linux: it is maybe most represented genre on Linux. Reason is simple. Strategy games are not on consoles because of their nature.

If that also spread to strategy , you can say pretty much Linux gaming took a devastating blow.

SEGA is one of the most Linux friendly publishers , i hope they continue to support.
Nezchan Aug 6, 2018
Quoting: Leopard
Quoting: Tuxee
Quoting: LeopardPeople on Linux don't buy games

Makes me wonder where those 417 Linux titles in my Steam library come from. Well, quite a few come from Humble Bundles, but apart from that I've bought 17 games so far in 2018. In they weren't even in the below-one-Euro pricing range: Helium Rain, Factorio, Skyforce Reloaded, RUINER, ROTR, Steamworld Dig 2,...

I'd rather say people on Windows don't buy games. They copy 'em.

Obviously that is not enough when you compare ports cost/ Linux staff cost vs sales.

Congrats for you man

Woo, look at those goalposts fly!

(232 Linux games on my Steam library, aside from a few freebies from Humble and the like all paid for with real money)
FredO Aug 6, 2018
This is more like a case of selectively weeding the garden, than getting the Flamethrower out. All is well in the world of Linux Gaming, and I'm reminded about that everytime I look at that huge pile of good games I'm either working through, or have yet to start, and at the 47 very good looking games sitting at the top of my wishlist.
Ehvis Aug 6, 2018
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This may be one of those games where the target audience and the Linux audience have a very small overlap. I don't think I've met many Linux gamers that have the slightest interest in Football. If they were anywhere close to that 1% share, then the whole financial thing would never be an issue.
Cyril Aug 6, 2018
Like many of you guys, I don't agree with the Leopard's statement.
I think a buy a lot of Linux games (and Windows games too when It's old enough).
On GOG I have more than 250 Linux Games (nearly 480 with Windows games), plus some others on Itch.io or Humble Bundle...

In the other hand, I do understand some of your statements/behavior (Leopard), like pirating games from devs who don't care a single bit about Linux gamers (I could do it, but I don't). But I have to say that sometimes I would like to do it...
Because I buy games from devs/publishers/stores who have respect for us (Linux version, DRM-Free etc), but why bother to care about people who don't care about you?
The problem is, that's become an excuse for them to say "Linux gamers pirate all games and don't buy them", it shows a bad picture of a minority from a minority...

It would be simpler to understand that we want to buy only games from devs who support us. No amalgam.
Again I have no problem with that, but I understand why some do.

Quoting: LeopardStrategy games are not on consoles because of their nature.

Yeah but you know, there are exceptions with that, remind me of Age of Empires II on PlayStation 2 for example.
And you can find games on consoles that fits better on PC...
But I don't think it's a problem.

And for Football Manager, I don't play it and don't want to (Football is not really my thing).


Last edited by Cyril on 6 August 2018 at 1:21 pm UTC
Dunc Aug 6, 2018
The last edition I played was the original, on the ZX81.

And it was open source. Not explicitly, but it was written in BASIC: you could break into the program and edit the code. It wouldn't be too hard to update it to 2018/19. :)
rcaridade145 Aug 6, 2018
LGA -> Linux Gamers Anonymous . Hi i'm rcaridade and i buy Linux games. Gosh i even buy Windows games to play with Wine. I would like to support emulation developers also but money is limited. And i'm updating my pc when i come together with the money to play games on Linux.
Now on the topic of FM2019, i'm a huge F1 fan and even if F12018 comes along ,i own F1 2015 and F1 2017, i'm not going to buy it instantly. Still a lot of juice in the old games.
Nevertheless Aug 6, 2018
Quoting: theghostFor us German Steam users, the game wasn't available before.
Some region lock prohibited a sale of the game in Germany (probably some kind of license deal).
So I guess that's not a loss :D

But it is! The 2019 version will be the first officially availlable in Germany!
Unfortunately this will be one of the very few games I will purchase for Wine. It' s a must! The one and only decision based football simulation with an almost real life database...
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