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Square Enix invites Championship Manager into the MMO club
The incredibly popular football (read: soccer) video game franchise Championship Manager is about ready to take the jump into MMO-space -- and Square Enix will be there to hold its hand all the way. The studio announced today that it will be publishing Championship Manager: World of Football, a free-to-play browser-based title for sports fanatics. Developed by Beautiful Game Studios and Shanda Games, Championship Manager will initially launch in China with a possible international release later down the road. A beta for the title is to be announced shortly. This is a further indication of the shape of the partnership between Square Enix and Shanda Games, which we reported on last year. The Championship Manager franchise dates back to 1992, with recent versions created by Beautiful Game Studios.
Square Enix makes cuts to Beautiful studio
In a statement made yesterday, Square Enix revealed plans to restructure Beautiful Game Studios, the team responsible for the Championship Manager franchise -- a plan resulting in "unavoidable job losses." Square Enix's aim is to "re-focus" its vision in order to "build a successful commercial future" for the European football management series. Square Enix notes job cuts will occur before Christmas. According to Develop, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada hinted that shuffling would occur at Eidos' London offices during a keynote at the Montreal International Games Summit last week. It is unclear if Beautiful Game Studios -- which is located at the London office -- is a small piece of a larger restructure plan. Layoffs just before Christmas? Bah, humbug!
