The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has led to huge numbers of delays for video games. Developer Sports Interactive announced that Football Manager 2021 would be delayed due to COVID-19 in July, and there are currently no updates as to when exactly the game will be released. However, the series’ previous entry Football Manager 2020 has apparently seen a huge amount of success after being offered as a free title on the Epic Games Store.
Football Manager 2020 is one of three free game on the online storefront between September 17 and September 24 at 8:00 a.m. PT, alongside Zoink’s Stick It To The Man! and Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs 2. Sports Interactive advertised this partnership on its blog by talking about the game’s cross-play and cross-progression as a way for previous fans to get it free on another platform, but it seems the response extended further.
Over one million people claimed a free copy of Football Manager 2020 on the Epic Games Store in three days, according to a Tweet put out by Studio Director Miles Jacobson today. He said over half of that came in 24 hours, and five times more people claimed the game in the first 36 hours than during the entire two-week period when Football Manager 2020 was offered for free on Steam in March.
While Football Manager 2020 has clearly been a successful game for both Sports Interactive and publisher Sega, it was also something of a trailblazer upon release on October 31, 2019. The game was entirely sold in recyclable cardboard packaging to help reduce the environmental impact of plastic casing typically used by video game companies, and Sega Europe decided to publish all PC games in recyclable packaging to follow that, starting with this year’s “Enemy at the Gates” edition of Total War: Rome 2.
Other developers have also seen success by offering up their games for free during limited periods. Another recent example is Mediatonic’s Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, which became a widely-played social media sensation after launching as one of the PlayStation Plus free games for August 2020. That game became so popular it was even played by members of the LA Chargers using the jumbotron in California’s new SoFi Stadium.
After Football Manager 2020, Stick It To The Man!, and Watch Dogs 2 finish their free week, the Epic Games Store will be offering RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Complete Edition for free between September 24 and October 1. The storefront previously offered two games, Railway Empire and Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, for free the week of September 10.
Football Manager 2020 is available now on PC, Stadia, and Switch.
Sources: Twitter, Sports Interactive, Epic Games Store, Steam
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