A couple of days ago Miles released a blog, discussing new features that have been placed into this years FM data editor. The data editor is part of the game that most people who buy the game won’t be too interested in, the data editor is used by many for two reasons 1) the most obvious, cheating. 2) to make your own data update, taking control of the summer transfers during times when SI are distracting developing their latest installments. But the interesting thing is these new developments that have been made in the data editor will now allow us add our own leagues & nations as well as teams. The latest FM-View podcast with Jordan touched on the potential goldmine that the FM community is currently sat on, can is this latest data editor become a free resource in the ability to print money?

Now firstly the FM community has been sitting on a potential business model for a while, the market maybe small but it is reasonable to make a quick buck for anyone who is able to tap into the market that is the size of roughly around a 1 million people globally at the moment and consists of more then just the community. FM sites have tried a businesses models before, SUSIE and FMG have both tried out a premium membership models. But in truth the premium model lacks value to the actual consumer, who cares when they get the download straight from the site or a mirror? As long as they are getting it for free surely they won’t see much added value in getting it directly from a server. It is a model that is produced from these sites mainly to cover any costs of running the site and all claim that money doesn’t fall into the personal bank accounts of those involved. But these models also rely on having a member base that is prepared to pay for this the premium account and come back on a regular basis. SUSIE have a  current membership of 51,186 and is one of the most active sites on the web, but even SUSIE have a small percentage of people paying a monthly subscription.

For those sites that have been producing products for the Football Manager community for so long have been doing so  for the love of what they are doing, a hobby. But why shouldn’t a hobby be used as a profit making scheme? Some of the best businesses men and women have started out turning something they love into a money making. Alot of these guys on the community have talent, plying their early traits and developing skills and sometimes careers within the community. Creating an environment where these graphics can be downloaded and paid for at a click of a button could be key in creating a business model that could work making the experience easy and simple. One of the key turns offs in internet retail is the complex way some websites setup their checkouts. The market is there and the demand for such developments in the game, again without doing in depth research into figures and talking to a few people I don’t know for sure, but surely this type of things has been modeled somewhere before. The one that comes to mind from the top of my head is EA’s The Sims, which has spawned a community of people who will produce items that you can dress your Sim with, decorate your house with or just admire within the front garden and many of these sites do charge for the privileged of downloading these products. If FM was only on a console we would be having to purchase Xbox of PS points to use as our currency to update to add on things in the game, such as maps if we were playing Call of Duty.

The community may rage up in arms about such a change in culture and the fact that they have to pay for something, but what iTunes and Spotify have shown in a competitive market is that it is possible to turn freely available (pirated) products in to money makers. But what we have to remember is there is a huge silent majority that come to these sites looking for such content who don’t make themselves known to the rest of the community. Taking what they want and leaving. I think that the pricing for downloads will be a minimal amount of money, something that an average young person can spend a percentage of their pocket money per download, some sites may want to include super packs for discounted prices.

But has Sports Interactive just opened up a new line of revenue for the community? The data editor surely is one of the biggest potential for profit, especially now that they have added the ability to add your own leagues to the game. Imagine the money that could be made on creating add-ons to the game that SI don’t currently allow you to do. One league that comes to mind straight away is the German league, a massive league that is currently left out of the game, (some work here for Q?). But then your own fantasy leagues, done with quality and with enough appeal can raise a decent revenue from like minded individuals that also might want to take control of a Premier League 1990/91 and see if this time they can take Liverpool to an extra point and win the league.

Much time and effort has been put into these sort of projects in the past and with the added incentives, such products will breed quality due to the laws of capitalism and competition. Market these right and you would see them sell pretty well. There is always  a demonstrated demand for data updates, we all know how picky any FM player is (even those not in the scene) and how much they want their FM database to be as update as possible, I have just seen Jason Manford requesting an update from Miles (but maybe that has alot to do with him being a Manchester City fan), surely it would not be unreasonable for the likes of FMupdates to get paid for their efforts? After all they are done with quality and alot of time and effort.

FM-View Admin Sheppy has produced another updated database for you to play your FM on to keep you playing throughout the remainder of Summer.This version focuses more on the lower league transfers for all you LLM but also includes all major moves such as Duff to Fulham, Crouch to Tottenham and Bent to Sunderland. All the latest managerial changes have also been updated including the funfair at Norwich where Gunn got the sack and Lambert was hired. Dont forget, if you spot a problem, a transfer which hasnt been done or think a certain clubs transfer budget should be raised, just say so in the official thread and Sheppy will make sure it’l be corrected for the next update!

Download it from here…

Official thread can be found here…

We all know we have the excellent updates from FMUpdates and how much they are valued but they’ve not released one for while so FMV Admin Sheppy has released a version of his own to keep you all playing FM during the summer. Not a thorough update but all transfers in the Premiership and Championship have been done plus most deals within League 1 and a few in League 2. Some European moves have also been done and all managerial changes have been changed all up to July 10th 2009.