Popular football management simulation video game Football Manager is to feature gay players in its upcoming 2018 version of the franchise.
The game which generates over one million sales annually will for the first time see players to come out in the game.
Sports Interactive, the company behind the hit, said the feature will only apply to ‘newgen’ players — fictional players who are released into the game every season — to prevent the company being sued. Likewise, it won’t apply to players who are from countries where being homosexual is illegal.
According to Miles Jacobson, the game’s director, “Part of the reason we decided to do this is because there are gay footballers.
“We know from the amount of professionals that there has to be players who are gay but feel they don’t want to come out.
“I find it weird that it’s still a problem in football so we decided to try and show people that coming out isn’t a big deal and can be a positive thing.
“I just think it’s crazy that in 2017 we are in a world where people can’t be themselves.”
Football Manager has proven to be forward-thinking video game. Last summer, the ultra-popular management sim included ‘Brexit’ scenarios where the UK splitting from the EU would have an impact on how you signed foreign players if you managed in the region, but this year they are taking a bigger step in terms of including something that is not yet a regular part of the real life footballing world.
So how does the latest feature works?
The new development will feature fictional, computer-generated youngsters who appear as others retire, refreshing the game’s database at the end of each virtual season. Those who know their Football Manager call these fictional players ‘newgens’. Without them, the simulation could not progress – as it does – into the next century and beyond.
Jacobson said they were “able to do things with these players that we can’t with real players, because they can’t sue us”.
He explained that, if one of these players at your club comes out, you’ll find out from a news item in your in-game inbox.
Soon after, your commercial director will inform you of a boost in the club’s revenue, in part due to new attention from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
It is worth noting thatThomas Hitzlsperger became the first openly gay man to have played in the English Premier League when he came out in 2014 – four months after he retired.
The former Germany midfielder, who played for Aston Villa, Everton and West Ham, said he “could not imagine playing football and doing this at the same time”.
Former Leeds and United States midfielder Robbie Rogers came out as gay a year earlier. He also decided he had to leave the game to do it, before returning to football in the MLS with LA Galaxy.
