The Football Manager series has kept diehard and casual fans of the beautiful game busy since 1992. But what options do fans of rugby have?
Video games have been hit or miss when it comes to rugby. The game doesn’t always translate well and a number of console and PC games have garnered poor reviews from experts and fans alike.
The best option for rugby is not a new one; it is Blackout Rugby. Those that love the game make up a vibrant community of 3200 active managers running 4000 active clubs. There are paid and premium versions of the game and both are incredibly enjoyable.
Going premium gets you an additional 50 features. Some of the more popular features are the 2D match view, club logos, and detailed training reports.
Blackout Rugby is a great game, but it is one that will be getting a significant revamp in the future. The developers behind the game say the current version is out of date and they are now focused on finishing and launching a modern, mobile-supporting version.
New features in the revamp will focus primarily on engagement. They want to keep people engaged with the game while playing rather than just logging on to perform a few repetitive tasks and then log off again. To achieve this they’re adding some always visible sections such as timeline, alerts, and chat. Timeline will let you know when events take place in the community, such as a new post in a conversation you’re following, news releases, new player listings, or match results for you and your friends. Alerts will let you know when events take place for you and your club such as bids, training results, and injuries. Chat will be an easily accessible panel to allow you to communicate with other managers and create chat groups as well. They will be adding many social features to make it easier to share live match links, match results, and achievements.
A more long-term goal is “a much more ambitious vision for sports management games across multiple sports featuring the best in game design, engagement, and social–complete with the world’s best 3D matchday experiences.”
Simply put, the people behind Blackout Rugby want to get involved with other sports, including cricket, golf, and soccer. It would be a great thing if that happened.
The initial idea for Blackout Rugby came from Matthew Scoble, who was a big fan of the games Hattrick (soccer) and Battrick (cricket). He pitched the games to his friend Jeremy Bell and suggested that a rugby version be built. And the rest is history, almost ten years of rugby gaming history.
Blackout Rugby is a community effort and dozens and dozens of people are involved in keeping the game running smoothly, giving users a quality experience day in out and day out. Their staff page is truly overwhelming with some many names, roles, and responsibilities. It is clear that it takes a community to raise a game and make it successful.
Bell is quick to give others credit for their work, even though it’s clear that he is the mastermind and standard-bearer when it comes to the game.
However, the sorts of games Bell really wants to build in the future would require a substantial investment from outside the company. They would need a team of up to 10 developers and artists to “feature full 3D matchday experiences and even more game design features to accentuate the use of 3D and immersion as a sports manager.” Simply put, they would need more resources and in turn, more staff. But what a game that would be!
Blackout Rugby has certainly made their mark, but we have a feeling that they are just getting started.
If anyone is interested in investment opportunities with Blackout Rugby, please contact jeremy@blackoutrugby.com.
